The first exhibition being featured in 2002 in the gallery of the De Pree Art Center at Hope College is the Mid-West Photography Invitational XI, curated by two members of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
The exhibition opens on Monday, Jan. 14, and continues through Friday, Feb. 15.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
Stephen Perkins, curator of the Lawton Gallery, and Jerry Dell, professor of photography, invited 25 contemporary photographers to exhibit a total of 68 works which demonstrate the enormous range of approaches in what they describe as "the most contemporary of arts." The technologies used range from traditional photography to the most recent digital tools.
The exhibition presents a varied array of artistic visions, from romantic portraits of unfamiliar faces, to a worm's-eye view of a tangled garden, to computer-assisted African American family portraits, to introspective studies of depression and disease, to pure explorations of light and shadow, to bizarre visions of a world menaced by giant rubber bands. The curators have assembled an exhibition which will allow any visitor both to delight in favorite kinds of imagery, and to be challenged by new and unfamiliar ones.
On Monday, Jan. 21, featured artist Ardine Nelson will present a public lecture at 4 p.m. in Cook Auditorium of the De Pree Art Center. She will be discussing her most recent body of work, which has developed from thinking about how non-verbal communication between individuals occurs. A reception will follow at 5 p.m.
The De Pree Art Center is located at Columbia Avenue and 12th Street. The gallery's regular hours are Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The gallery is handicapped accessible.