Alexander, Venz Photography Exhibit in Oct.
"Double Vision," the photographic works of James Rodger Alexander and Pamela Ann Venz, will be on display during October in the Brooks Gallery of Wallman Hall on the Fairmont State University and Pierpont Community & Technical College main campus.
An opening reception is planned for Wednesday, Oct. 8, from 7 to 9 p.m. Gallery Curator Marian J. Hollinger will present a gallery talk about the images. The works will be on display through Oct. 31. Admission to the opening event and exhibition are free and open to the public.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Alexander received his bachelor's and master's degrees in Architecture in Urban Design from Cornell University. After six years of architectural practice, he attended Louisiana State University and received his M.F.A. in sculpture in 1976. He is presently on the faculty of the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he teaches sculpture and ceramics and serves as the Director of the B.F.A. Program. Previously, Alexander taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and at the Auburn Center for Architecture and Urban Studies, Birmingham.
Alexander has exhibited widely his sculptural installations and photographs and has won numerous awards. He is also active as a curator and juror and has published articles on architectural terra cotta, vernacular architecture, political posters as propaganda and the conceptual relationship between architecture and sculpture. He has received support for his research from the Alabama State Council on the Arts, the Alabama Humanities Foundation, the National Endowment for the Art, The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in Fine Arts and the Canadian Center for Architecture, as well as various faculty research grants from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Pamela Venz was born in Birmingham, Ala., and received her B.A. in Studio Art from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1983. She completed work on her M.F.A. in Sculpture at the Ohio State University in 1985. In 1988 she joined the faculty of the Department of Art at Birmingham-Southern College, offering the department's first course in photography. In 1998, Venz was appointed Assistant Professor and was asked to develop a departmental concentration in photography. She currently serves as Chair of the Department of Art and Art History.
Venz has exhibited extensively throughout the Southeast region and most recently in the Czech Republic. In 2004, she was awarded an Alabama State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship and numerous Travel Grants from Birmingham-Southern College.
'Double Vision' is the third joint exhibition for Alexander and Venz. Landscapes and other environments in which the artists live and work will form the basis of the exhibition. The works are intriguing in their points-of-view and manipulation of light and shade. Viewers will find elegant and captivating images for their consideration.
Regular gallery hours are Mondays through Fridays from 11 a.m. to 4 p. m. For special viewing arrangements, call or e-mail Marian J. Hollinger at (304) 367-4300 or mhollinger@fairmontstate.edu
