Regier Art Gallery highlight: Marguerite Perret
Regier Art Gallery highlight: Marguerite Perret
Take a look into Perret’s Fluid Nature exhibit.
The Bethel College Robert W. Regier Art Gallery provides opportunities for both students and visiting artists to display their excellent and creative works. Since Feb. 19, the exhibit on display is by Marguerite Perret, a professor at Washburn University.
To quote from her bio: “Marguerite Perret conducts arts-based research through a social issue engaged studio practice that examines promise, complications, and sometimes contradictory narratives inherent at the intersections of art, science, healthcare, and personal experience.”
Perret’s exhibit is titled Transmutation Speculation: Fluid Nature and mixes together several elements of art and poetry to reflect our current environment. This mixture of elements not only creates a very interesting and appealing visual but speaks to issues we are currently facing regarding human manufactured waste in natural environments. This combination of man-made and natural objects gives just a small glimpse into the ways that our pollutants are affecting the environments around us. The title “Fluid Nature” speaks to the constant change the world is undergoing, which is displayed beautifully in this piece.
The majority of objects placed around the exhibit are made out of porcelain. This was done for a specific reason. Perret mentioned in her exhibit that porcelain was chosen because it “has a fixed history in that of global trade.” She continued to write that due to a demand for porcelain, local manufacturing increased.
“Production also contributed to a steady waste stream of clay and heavy metals that contaminated the land on and around the potteries,” Perret wrote. This is just one example of the way that history and symbolic meaning are mixed together in this exhibit.
If you have yet to see the exhibit, this evening is the best opportunity. Perret will be presenting a talk about the exhibit, providing some insight into creative decisions and thought process. This will also be a chance to ask questions about the exhibit.
There will be a short reception as well. The reception will be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. this evening, March 21. The artist talk will take place during this time, roughly at 7 p.m. Stop by the Art Gallery in the Luyken Fine Arts Center this evening to learn more about the project.