The Art Gallery at Eastern Connecticut State University will present “Consistency of the Temporal” from Aug 27-Oct 10 in the Fine Arts Instructional Center. The exhibition features local mixed-media artist Beatrice Modisett. The opening reception will occur on Sept. 5 from 4-6 p.m. Modisett will give a talk prior to the reception from 3-4 p.m. in the Art Gallery.
Modisett’s works are inspired by geological formations, personal histories and the systems that humans create in an attempt to navigate and control the landscape. Erosion as a means of creation is another theme of her art.
Modisett’s most recent work is inspired by her recent immersion in Brescia, Italy, a city that was built on the foundations of its own ruins. She has also pulled inspirations from her late grandparents’ farm and home in eastern Connecticut. Her paintings, works on paper and pit-fired ceramics weave together her geological and auto-biographical histories.
Residents of Brescia often unearth subterranean artifacts and objects the city’s past. In her exhibition at Eastern, Modisett presents objects that she has extracted from the earth, in a gesture of homage to her own heritage. The large-scale paintings in the exhibition were formed through the accrual and erosion of layers of thinned oil paint. The ceramic and mixed-media sculptures present as objects that could have been pulled from the geological events that the paintings depict, and serve as windows through which to view those events.
The Art Gallery is located in room 112 of the Fine Arts Instructional Center on Eastern’s campus. Gallery hours are Tuesday and Wednesday 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Thursday 1-7 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 2-5 p.m. Parking is available in Cervantes Garage and in the Student Center parking lot. For more information, call (860) 465-4659 or visit http://www.easternct.edu/