SHU's Gallery of Contemporary Art Presents "Heat" Exhibit

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Gallery of Contemporary Art at Sacred Heart University will present its last exhibition of the academic year, Heat, from May 1 – June 1, with an opening reception on Sunday, May 1 from 1pm-3:30pm.  
 
Heat is a source of both creation and destruction. It is the sunlight that is so crucial to life and the conflagration that destroys it. But heat can also be a means to creation. These artists use materials that require heat in some way to produce works made of paper, wood, glass, ceramic, slate, steel or resin.
 
Heat will include works by artists Jocelyn Braxton Armstrong (Westport, CT), Austin I. Collins, C.S.C. (South Bend, IN) Michael Dominick (New York, NY), Eve Ingalls (Princeton, NJ), Richard Klein (Norwalk, CT), Gina Miccinilli (Mahwah, NJ), Robert Modaferri (Nyack, NY), and Kenneth P. Payne (Buffalo, NY).
 
Jocelyn Braxton Armstrong’s large ceramic work was inspired by the chaos of the 2004 tsunami waves on the island of Sumatra. After the work was selected for this exhibit, as the artist decided to enlarge its scale, another earthquake and tsunami in Japan has caused heat to be released from a nuclear plant.
 
Austin Collins provides two elegant steel maquettes, Belt Temple and Wrap Temple. His large outdoor work, Elevator Temple, was donated by the artist and installed on the campus of SHU at Christian Witness Commons in memory of Joan R. C.V. Smurlo, a dear friend of the University and wife of Frank Smurlo of Greenwich, CT.
 
Pouring molten metal onto specially prepared paper with collage elements, Michael Dominick creates striking “drawings” which can be seen in a video of his process.
 
Eve Ingalls’ sculptures are built of handmade paper, with heat a part of the process. A steam box bends the wood that twists through Position Available. Heat is also a theme of these works, with global warming suggested by the distortions of the paper shrinkage, creating the final shape of Not Fitting.
 
Richard Klein uses recycled and found glass to create his wall sculptures. He solders together eyeglasses and glass ashtrays and connects them in Bag, with its references to our consumer society; in Spill, an amusing wine glass is bent with fire.
 
The steel wire and cascading cast resin cicadas of Gina Miccinilli’s Comets & Clefts are a universal symbol for renewal and metamorphosis. A latex mold is filled with a precise mixture of resin, cured, and then gently removed to preserve the mold.
 
Robert Modaferri ties up thin Ethafoam® to make his forms that are set in a sand mold. Recycled radiators are melted and poured into the mold, vaporizing the Ethafoam. A sledgehammer separates the piece from its mold, leaving solid, twisting forms. (®Ethafoam is a registered trademark of Sealed Air Corporation and Dow Chemical Company.)

In contrast, Kenneth Payne combines fragile materials, in this case glass, limestone and slate, to create Isis, Osiris and Princess, intimate works that reflect human gestures and forms. A video of a metal pour that is like a “happening” illustrates his method.
 
Gallery of Contemporary Art Director Sophia Gevas says of this exhibit, “In an intimate space, the sum of these works – from heavy metals to light glass – gives us a chance to wander through a contemplation of heat.”

For additional information on this exhibit, please visit: http://artgallery.sacredheart.edu
 
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About Sacred Heart University

Sacred Heart University, the second-largest Catholic university in New England, offers more than 40 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs on its main campus in Fairfield, Connecticut, and satellites in Connecticut, Luxembourg and Ireland. More than 6,000 students attend the University’s four colleges: Arts & Sciences; Education & Health Professions; University College; and the AACSB-accredited John F. (Jack) Welch College of Business. The Princeton Review includes SHU in its guides “Best 373 Colleges: 2011,” “Best in the Northeast” and “Best 300 Business Schools: 2011.” U.S. News & World Report ranks SHU among the best master’s universities in the North in its annual “America’s Best Colleges” publication. As one of just 23 institutions nationally, SHU is a member of the Association of American Colleges & Universities’ (AAC&U) Core Commitments Leadership Consortium, in recognition of its core, “The Human Journey.” SHU fields 31 division I athletic teams, and has an award-winning program of community service. www.sacredheart.edu

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