FARMINGTON, ME (August 6, 2018)—The University of Maine at Farmington is once again proud to kick off its “Art on Campus” program with a semester-long exhibit of the creative works of two featured artists.
This vibrant campus art initiative this semester features the work of artists H. Jennings Sheffield, contemporary artist working in lens based media, video and sound; and Lisa Deloria Weinblatt, figurative painter.
Both artists’ work will be on exhibit in the UMF Mantor Library and the Emery Community Arts Center from Aug. 20 to Dec. 31, 2018. Artist talks helping campus and community members engage directly with the artist will be presented by Sheffield at 12 p.m., Sept. 19, and Weinblatt at 12 p.m., Oct. 3, in the Emery Performance Space.
Throughout her career as an artist, Sheffield has focused on how to convey experiences or emotional responses photographically. Interested in illustrating all sides of the story in one singular image, she has researched a myriad of ways in which to merge different representations of an experience or emotion into a single image.
In her latest research, “The Collective Glitch” (2015-2017), she utilized the universal language of Morse code as a visual matrix in order to bring multiple data sources together and merge them into one singular image. What would 16 different images look like when collected, deconstructed, and then woven together like the making of a tapestry?
As a result, the work invites the viewer to draw upon their own cultural experiences to define the visual data being presented to them—asking the question, in today’s society, is this what portrait/family/home/hero/moment/fear/birthday/tragedy/hope looks like?
Sheffield received her MFA from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Her work has been on exhibit across the U.S. and at the Pingyao International Photography Festival in China, Cambridge University in the United Kingdom and the Medien Kultur Haus Wels in Austria.
Weinblatt’s imagery is informed through personal experience, imagination and direct observation. Her goal is to create humanistic awareness in a framework that is universally recognized.
Her SCHOOL LUNCH series is a pictorial essay of contemporary student life, in real educational settings. Drawing on location in NYC High Schools and Colleges, it underlines perceptions that affirm cultural identity, brings together ideas espousing contemporary concerns and encourages a belief in the quality of the human spirit.
Weinblatt’s two painting series, SCHOOL LUNCH and A MAN/A WOMAN, have been exhibited in over 40 solo exhibitions and over 200 group exhibitions across the country, with recent solo exhibitions at The Morristown Administration & Records Building, N.J., The Hoyt Institute of Fine Arts, Pa., Waterworks Visual Arts/Museum, N.C., The Woodstock Museum, N.Y. , The Andrews Art Museum, N.C., The Karpeles Museum, N.Y. and The Morris Graves Museum, Calif.
Weinblatt received her MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She has had more than 35 solo exhibitions and exhibited in more than 175 group shows.
The Art on Campus program is sponsored by the UMF President’s Office and the H. King & Jean Cummings Charitable Fund of the Maine Community Foundation. Artists are selected by a committee of UMF art faculty and university staff.
Media Contact: Ann Bartges, UMF assistant professor of visual arts and director of the Emery Community Arts Center at ann.bartges@maine.edu or 207-778-7461
