A biannual exhibit by UCCS visual art faculty will open Oct. 7 at GOCA 121, the UCCS Galleries of Contemporary Art location at 121 South Tejon Street.
The “New Horizon” exhibit features artwork by Visual and Performing Arts Department members Matt Barton, associate professor, Corey Drieth, associate professor, Marina Eckler, instructor, Pauline Foss, senior instructor, Abbey Hepner, instructor, Nikki Pike, instructor, Stacy Platt, instructor, and Claire Rau, senior instructor.
A free public reception will take place 5-9 p.m., Oct. 7, as part of the downtown Colorado Springs First Friday Art Walk and the citywide Arts Month. Refreshments will be provided by Nosh restaurant.
The exhibit will be on display through Dec. 17. Gallery hours are noon-5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, or by appointment.
Matt Barton, associate professor and co-director of visual art, Department of Visual and Performing Arts. Barton currently teaches three-dimensional art creation. He received a bachelor’s of fine arts from Montana State University and a master’s in fine arts from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His work has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver; New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; the Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh; the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; the Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico; and the Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh.
Corey Drieth, associate professor and co-director of visual art, Department of Visual and Performing Arts. Drieth received undergraduate degrees in philosophy, comparative religious studies and studio art from Colorado State University and a master’s in fine arts in 2004 from the University of North Carolina. Before joining UCCS, Drieth taught studio art classes at CSU, the University of North Carolina and the University of Virginia. His work has been exhibited throughout the country.
Marina Eckler, instructor, Department of Visual and Performing Arts. Eckler studied letterpress printmaking and painting at San Francisco State University and earned a master’s in fine arts from the Maine College of Art. Her work has been exhibited at the Harwood Museum in Taos, New Mexico, The Lab in San Francisco, California, the ICA Gallery in Portland, Maine, and the New York Art Book Fair. She is co-founder and director of Mountain Fold Books, a nonprofit bookstore for the arts, located in Colorado Springs. She currently teaches two-dimensional art and design.
Pauline Foss, senior instructor, Department of Visual and Performing Arts. Foss received a master’s in fine arts from the Vermont College of Fine Art, a master’s degree in art from Adams State College and bachelor’s degree in art history from the University of California, Davis. She has received numerous fellowships and awards, including a Colorado Excellence in the Arts Fellowship in 2002 and 2003, and has exhibited her work nationally and regionally.
Abbey Hepner, instructor, Department of Visual and Performing Arts. Hepner investigates the ethical gray areas where humanity and technology collide, illuminating the use of health as a currency. She received degrees in art and psychology from the University of Utah and a master’s degree from the University of New Mexico. She currently teaches photography.
Nikki Pike, instructor, Department of Visual and Performing Arts. Pike starts from the ideals of democracy and works with the following list to guide her artistic practice: making work in public, making the viewer the artist, removing herself as artist, making the art free, making work in collaboration and creating community partners. Pike often references universal necessities of all humans: food, shelter, water and love. Her approach often involves the employment of play.
Stacy Platt, instructor, Department of Visual and Performing Arts. Platt uses photography to speak about vulnerability, memory, loss and the practice of everyday life. Born to parents who served in the U.S. Air Force, she spent much of her formative years in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and identifies with the South as her childhood home. She received bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and a master’s in fine arts from from Columbia College of Art.
Claire Rau, senior instructor, Department of Visual and Performing Arts. Rau completed her graduate work at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and teaches sculpture at UCCS. She is the recipient of several awards and residencies, continuing to build upon an extensive exhibition record in the U.S. and internationally. Rau is a founding member of The Front in New Orleans.
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