UCM Gallery of Art and Design Hosts Three New Exhibits

The Gallery of Art and Design at the University of Central Missouri will host three new exhibits opening Feb. 24.

Janet Bonsall will present a photography exhibit titled “A Quest for Beauty and Benches” in the Main Gallery. As a student of photography, she became interested in the design and purpose of benches in public places as she traveled throughout the world. According to Bonsall, benches are a place to seek solitude—a private domain in a public area.

Dr. Janet Bonsall - Bench. West Oregon. Haystack. 

A native of Morgantown, W. Va., Bonsall is a professor of photography at UCM. She is a graduate of Rochester Institute of Photography in Rochester, N.Y. with a degree in professional photography. She attended the Polytechnic of Central London during her junior year. She received a master’s degree and doctorate in technology education from West Virginia University.

Yvonne Wakabayashi will present an exhibit of textiles created using the ancient Japanese process of arashi shibori in the Outer Gallery. Using silk produced in a small family mill in Japan, she crafts sculptural forms that allow her to craft pleats into wall pieces and art wear. She seeks to explore the possibilities of shibori will combining it with western aesthetics, all the while respecting

Wakabayashi’s piece “Sea Anemone” was selected as Best of Show in the international juried textile exhibition at the UCM Gallery of Art and Design during summer 2010. Wakabayashi is a native of Vancouver, B.C., Canada.

Yvonne Wakabayashi - Marine Protozoa. (Installation Detail)

Photographer Marydorsey Wanless’ exhibit, “Evidence of Aging,” will be on exhibit in Gallery 115. She examines her own aging process, using photographs as a method of collecting evidence. Her own brief experience with dependency following an accident led her to begin examining what she defines as an individualized process and to contemplate the legacy she will leave.

Marydorsey Wanless. Epiphany 3. Tintype

All three exhibits will be open to the public, free of charge, through March 18. An opening reception is planned for 4-6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 24, when Bonsall will be available to meet with gallery visitors and discuss her work.