Recent mixed-media work by Pennsylvania artist Jim Flahaven will be on display in Mary Baldwin University’s Hunt Gallery from August 30 – September 23. A closing reception will be held for the artist on Thursday, September 23, from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. in Hunt Gallery. The public is invited to attend.
Flahaven’s work incorporates found objects, often from outdoor activities such as hunting and fishing, with a naturalistic approach to oil painting and with words or other visual signs.
“Ten years ago I moved to Western Pennsylvania. In an offhand way I found it to be a fertile place for art making. If you search hard enough there is lots to chew on: forests, strip mines, hunters, streams, silence, snow, fish, deer, farms, houses – both Victorian and trailer, the remnants of the oil industry, and the ghosts of extinct passenger pigeons whose flocks used to number a billion individuals. All of this found its way into my work,” said Flahaven, who is an Assistant Professor of Art at Clarion University in Clarion, Pennsylvania.
Flahaven earned a B.F.A. from North Texas State University in 1986 and received his M.F.A. in Drawing and Painting from Ohio State University in 1988. His work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions regionally and nationally, including Gallery 10 in Washington, DC; Birke Gallery at Marshall University in Huntington, WV; Metropol Art Center in Pittsburgh, PA; Contemporary Artists Center in North Adams, MA; and the Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach, FL, among other venues.
Hunt Gallery is dedicated to the exhibition of contemporary work in all media by regionally and nationally-recognized artists. The gallery is open Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. during the College’s academic year. For more information, please call Paul Ryan, Mary Baldwin Associate Professor of Art at (540) 887-7196.