Keene State College’s Carroll House Gallery will open on Thursday, January 27, to offer students, artists, and the Keene community regular samplings from the world of contemporary art. The opening exhibit will feature the work of Jarod Charzewski in a site-specific installation called Earthflow, which will use discarded clothing collected from Keene and the surrounding area to create an expansive, three-dimensional landscape that pays homage to the Monadnock region. By collecting clothing from the local communities, the artist intends to engage area residents and instill a sense of global responsibility. Following the project, these materials/garments will be donated to a local thrift store.

Currently an assistant professor in sculpture at the College of Charleston (SC), Charzewski will work with KSC students for four days, installing the exhibit before the gallery opens. The artist will talk about his work at noon on Wednesday, January 26, in the Thorne-Sagendorph Conference Room, and there will be an opening reception at the Carroll House Gallery from 4–6 p.m. on Thursday, January 27.

Carroll House, located next to the Alumni Center on Main Street, was recently converted from student housing to handsome gallery space to exhibit the work of KSC students and invited artists, functioning as a teaching gallery, where the Keene community can view contemporary art. It will create opportunities for Keene State art students to display their work, create art installations, and perform other gallery-management tasks.

All Carroll House Gallery events are free, open to the public. The Gallery is open from Wednesday through Saturday from 12–5 p.m. For more information, contact the KSC Art Department at 603-358-2040.

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KSC senior art major Jessica Yager of Bellows Falls, Vt., won the People’s Choice Award for her bronze statue, Gibbous Fountain, exhibited in the student art show, “Emerging Art” at the Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery.

Visitors to the show were invited to vote for their favorite work of art, and Yager won the majority of the 479 votes cast. She will receive a $100 cash award from the Friends of the Thorne along with a People’s Choice Commendation.

The exhibit continues through May 8 and is free and open to the public.

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Sixteen non-art-major students from Richard Carlson’s Color Design and Painting, an Integrative Studies Perspective course, produced a colorful, abstract mural that was unveiled this month in the classroom area hallway of the newly renovated Huntress Hall. The students were asked to consider several site-specific design factors, including the lobby’s shape, current wall colors, pedestrian traffic flow, and the history and techniques of other wall paintings, as they created the mural. They did a great job – the next time you’re on campus, take some time to check it out.

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The KSC community was saddened to hear that  John (Jack) Marshall, professor emeritus of art, passed away on Tuesday, July 7th.

Dr. Marshall taught sculpture at KSC from 1973 until he retired in 2002. Many community members will recall walking by the sculpture studio – at all hours of the day – to see him working away on one of his projects. Or, more likely, they just heard him working; often, he had so many works in progress that he was hidden behind them.

Dr. Marshall had a BA in design from Massart, an MFA from Boston University, and a PhD from the Yale School of Architecture. His works have been shown in Massachusetts at Fuller Memorial Museum in Brockton, the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, the Baak Gallery in Cambridge,  and the Carl Siembab, Sunne Savage, and Ellie Reiglehaupt galleries on Newbury St. in Boston. His work has appeared in NYC at the Whitney Biennial, the Awards Exhibit of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, the American Institute of Architecture, Leve House, the New School, the Allan Stone Gallery and in a solo show at Ward Nasse Gallery in Soho. He has had European shows in Milan, Pisa, Florence, Copenhagen, Geneva, and Zurich.

Drop us a comment if you remember this prolific artist, and visit his website, Marshall’s Art.

Come on back to campus to discover who may be the art world’s next sensation. Fourteen graduating art majors will have their work in Emerging Art, the annual KSC Art Students’ Exhibition; the show runs from April 18 through May 9, at the Thorne.

From 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 17, the Friends of the Thorne will host an opening reception for Emerging Art at the gallery, and the Art Department will sponsor a Graphic Design Senior Portfolio Review from 5 to 8 p.m. in the Media Arts Center, adjacent to the Thorne. More than 20 graphic design seniors will open their portfolios and showcase their best design work.

The exhibit, reception, and portfolio review are free and open to the public.

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Did you see the 2009 Biennial Regional Jurors’ Choice exhibit at the Thorne? Keene artist Nicole Caulfield’s colored pencil work, Zen, depicting her oldest daughter, Katie, who attends Symonds School in Keene, won the People’s Choice Award as well as the Jurors’ Best of Show prize.

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Eight of the regional artists selected to participate in the Thorne’s Biennial Regional Juror’s Choice Exhibition received awards at a Jan. 23, reception opening the exhibit.

Nicole Caulfield of Keene won the Jurors’ Best of Show Award for Zen, a colored pencil work. The $500 prize for this award is sponsored by the Friends of the Thorne.

Patricia Shappler of Bedford, N.H., was awarded second place of $300 for Heading Downtown, an acrylic painting.

Ronnie McClure of Canterbury, N.H., received third place of $200 for Crossing, an ink and colored pencil work on rag paper.

In addition to the top three winners, the following artists received honorable mentions, which include a $25 cash award:

• Jim Coates of Lyndeborough, N.H., for In the Woods, a sculpture made of handmade paper and wood;
• Christine Neill of New Ipswich, N.H., for Three Days, a watercolor painting;
• Leonard Ragouzeos of Newfane, Vt., for Adirondack Chair, a drawing in India ink on paper;
• Carol Lightfoot Ross of Rindge, N.H., for Faces of the Iraq War, a fabric art quilt; and
• Susan von Glahn Calibria of Mount Hermon, Mass, for Black and White, an acrylic and gouache work on paper.

Come to campus and see this impressive exhibit, and cast your vote for a People’s Choice Commendation. The artist winning this $100 prize will be announced February 12.

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