The Nordstrand Visual Arts Gallery is now featuring the Visiting Artist Series: “More Love” by Michael Larry Lynch that is free and open to the public until the show concludes on March 18. The exhibit consists of a combination of paintings and organic ceramic sculptures curated by both the artist and the gallery director.
Due to illness, the scheduled artist talk was canceled, and the original opening was pushed back. It was reframed into a soft opening that occurred just last weekend.
The gallery is open Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday, 3 to 7 p.m. The gallery will not be open on Saturdays. This show of the Visiting Artist Series will end at noon on closing day. The standard hours of the gallery are also posted outside the exhibit
The Nordstrand Visual Arts Gallery is curated by gallery director and Art History Professor, Andy Haslit. Each addition to the Visiting Artist Series must be selected by him and run past the members of the art department here on campus for approval. His work is an important part of what allows us to bring in shows to our college.
When discussing his work as Gallery Director, Haslit said he tries to make the show more interesting by reaching out to many artists who create different styles of artwork, of which he keeps a list.
“What I’m shooting for is a variety of artists,” said Haslit. “That are working artists, that are educators, that are many other things.”
This allows for diversity in what WSC students and faculty experience within the Nordstrand Arts Gallery.
Haslit chose Michael Lynch for two main reasons: a love of his artistic style, and an appreciation for his work as a local college professor.
Between working on his art, Lynch is currently teaching as an art professor at Northeast Community College in Norfolk. As the only specifically art educator at the college, he has his hands full with his work. However, this does not stop him from devoting time to his painting and ceramics.
As it is stated in the WSC event post, “Lynch’s artwork emphasizes form, light, and space, with each painting often completed in one session. Subjects signify a particular time and place, discovering joy and beauty in the ordinary.”
The post further identifies his goal while painting as to be present in the moment while working on each individual piece. This allows him to be fully connected to his work.
Haslit personally connects best with Lynch’s artwork becasue of how he describes it as “painterly,” a description commonly used among artists to describe when you can see each paint stroke and the way the paint raises off of the canvas.
