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Reunion: Baker, Gerhard, Heubeck

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Reunion 01The ArtLab Gallery of the Bower School of Music & the Arts at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) presents Reunion: Baker, Gerhard, Heubeck, an exhibition that features work in a variety of mediums by three FGCU art graduates. The show opens on Thursday, February 26 with a 5 p.m. Gallery Talk followed by a reception and open mic event that continues until 8 p.m. The exhibition will be on display in the ArtLab Gallery through March 19. The ArtLab Gallery is at the west side of the Library building on FGCU’s main campus at 10501 FGCU Blvd. S. Parking is available in Lot 7 for gallery visitors; parking passes are available at the information booth at the university’s main entrance. Regular viewing hours are: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and Friday, and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday. On this page you will find announcements, notices, articles and reviews pertaining to the exhibition.

 

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‘Reunion’ now on view in the ArtLab Gallery at Florida Gulf Coast University (03-01-15)

Reunion 01Curated by Anica Sturdivant, Reunion is the latest exhibition featuring work by Florida Gulf Coast University alumni. However, this exhibition is different. It is intended as the first of many annual events to feature work by FGCU art grads in the ArtLab Gallery. This new series will further FGCU’s dedication to alumni artists by creating Reunion 02exhibitions showcasing their talent and the impact the Art Program at FGCU is having on the region.

For this season’s Reunion, Lauren Baker (Class of 2010), Ehren Fritz Gerhard (Class of 2009), and Philip Heubeck (Class of 2010) have come together to reveal their varied responses to the vibrations emanating from the natural world. By visualizing sound and the passage of time, by meditating on the untamed nature of the human spirit, and by describing solitary and complex landscapes, these artists present the beauty and the connectedness they feel in every aspect of the natural universe.

The ArtLab Gallery is located in the west end of the library building. Reunion runs through March 19, 2015. The ArtLab Gallery is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Thursdays until 8 p.m.

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Ehren Gerhard’s whimsical landscapes combine multiple perspectives to convey entire visual experience (02-25-15)

Reunion 01Reunion opens tomorrow evening in the ArtLab Gallery at Florida Gulf Coast University. The show will be an annual event featuring work by FGCU art grads. This year, the exhibition features work by Lauren Baker (Class of 2010), Philip Heubeck (Class of 2010) and Ehren Gerhard (Class of 2009).

After earning his Bachelor of Arts, Ehren Fritz Gerhard worked a series of environmentally-related jobs before marrying and moving with his bride to a small town in Spain, where he taught English, got to be an extra in a movie, had a solo show of his paintings and made a lot of connections. Back in the States, he Gerhard 03enrolled at Arizona State University to pursue his Master of Arts, which he received in 2013. “During this time, I apprenticed, curated a couple of shows and made even more contacts,” he reports. He also continued to work on his own artwork.

Gerhard’s media include painting, graphite, printmaking and works in ceramics. “Working in Arizona was totally different,” Ehren laughs. “Here Gerhard 02and in Spain, my palette included lots of greens and blues. There, it was mostly browns and terra cottas.”

From the time he was a small child, Ehren has moved around a lot. “I grew up in small towns and my family moved across the country multiple times,” he confides. “I see new places as exciting opportunities to discover more about unique cultures, histories and natural ecosystems. When I stop, look and enjoy my surroundings, I feel privileged to see the world as a magical place.”

Gerhard 01He translates the magical places he visits into whimsical landscapes that the self-describes as “wild, crazy, goofy, intense as possible, playful and psychedelic.” But he hastens to add that he doesn’t merely paint what he sees. Inspired by contemporary trends in art, his landscapes are a synthesis and amalgamation of a given spot or locale as viewed from differing perspectives.

Traditional landscape painting portrays the subject Gerhard 05from a fixed point of view. Gerhard’s contribution to the motif is to depict his subject within the frame from multiple spots along the time/space continuum. “This gives me the ability to move things around rather than paint from a single point,” Ehren explains. Of course, this shifting Gerhard 06perspective presents myriad challenges and opportunities, like looking up at the sky and down at your feet at exactly the same moment.

Gerhard’s overarching goal is not to create just a panorama as captured by a point-and-shoot camera, but an entire visual experience that expresses his emotional reaction to a place that can be experienced on some level by his viewers. That experience will change, however, as the viewer moves toward the canvas or away from it because of the multiple layers of impasto and glazes that he employs.

“There is something of an impressionist cast to what I do,” he admits, and that includes his current practice of painting almost exclusively en plein air. “I Gerhard 04used to take photographs and then go back into the studio, but there are too many things you don’t notice if you’re just passing through a place,” he adds, sharing the benefit of the wisdom he amassed moving and travelling from place to place throughout his life. “Those things only reveal themselves if you’re willing to stand on that site, look deep, and study what you see.”

Because of his patience, tenacity and willingness to think outside the traditional paint box, Gerhard is able to channel energy, emotion and joy into works that bend, twist and model the representational structure to which we are all accustomed in ways that pull viewers in, make them want to stay and play around awhile so they can see, explore and Libraryappreciate the multiple levels of imagery and activity that he so meticulously presents.

The exhibition opens with a 5 p.m. Gallery Talk that will feature a round table discussion with the artists, followed by a reception and open mic event until 8 p.m. The exhibition runs through March 19, 2015. This exhibition is made possible with the generous support of U. Tobe and the FGCU Alumni Association.

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‘Reunion: Baker, Gerhard, Heubeck’ opens in FGCU ArtLab Gallery on February 26 (02-12-15)

Reunion 02The 2014-2015 has seen the beginnings of several new series initiated by The Art Galleries of Florida Gulf Coast University. Reunion: Baker, Gerhard, Heubeck is the latest addition to what will become an annual series. The exhibition will be on view in the ArtLab, FGCU’s original art gallery located close to the center of campus.

In the past, The Galleries have hosted an all-inclusive alumni exhibition (The Formers, 2009), and have had the honor of working with various alumni as co-curator (Jessica Osceola for Long, Long River 2014) and as artists (Megan Kissinger in the pilot of the Alumni Series 2013 and  Jeffrey Scott Lewis in 4 2012 ) at different times. The introduction of the Reunion series will provide the consistent programming to annually Reunion 03bring together select alumni from university’s Art Program to create exhibitions showcasing local alumni artists working in a variety of mediums while pursuing careers as artists, art teachers, coordinators, directors, musicians, designers and curators illustrates the impact the Art Program at FGCU is having on the region.

For this season’s Reunion, Lauren Baker (Class of 2010), Ehren Gerhard (Class of 2009), and Philip Heubeck (Class of 2010) have come together to reveal their varied responses to the vibrations emanating from the natural world. By visualizing sound and passage of time, by meditating on the untamed nature of the human spirit, and by describing solitary and complex landscapes, these alumni of the FGCU Reunion 04Art Program show how they are making a significant contribution to the cultural environment of our region.

The Gallery Talk on Thursday, February 26 will feature a round table discussion with the artists, followed by a reception and open mic event until 8 p.m. The exhibition runs through March 19, 2015. This exhibition is made possible with the generous support of U. Tobe and the FGCU Alumni Association.

 

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