The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art is hosting an exhibit featuring artists from Auburn University. The exhibit explores natural history.
On opening day, Auburn community members walked through the galleries taking pictures of the art and reading through poetry or the history of artifacts used for the art displays. Of the art there was a historic note written by Katherine Braund on the artwork of William Bartrom's "Animated Scenes of Nature," which includes three depictions of the outdoors.
"Gould and Audubon represent a romantic ideal of the artist as explorer," Jessye McDowell writes about his work. "The Natural Kinds. It is a 3D landscape that portrays the relationship between animals and nature."
Art will be on display from June 18 to October 23, 2016 in the exhibition "Call and Response" in the Louise Hauss and David Brent Miller Audubon Galleries.
The nine artists who contributed to the gallery include Barb Bondy, Braund, Anton DiSclafani, Andrew Kozlowski, Zdenko Krtić, Keetje Kuipers, Jessye McDowel, Rose McLarney and Claire Wilson.
They show natural history prints and specimens through interpretations, drawings, paintings and poetry.
One of the nine artists, Kozlowski, an assistant professor of art at the University, was at the opening day to watch how people reacted to his work. Kozlowski's showing was popular among viewers who were taking photos.
His work took the space of a whole wall filled with objects scattered around drawings of fruit. He chose scientific illustrations of fruit that were sliced in half.
"What I like about them is this idea that we have objects in our lives all the time, and to us they have specific meanings, but to others it may just be an object," Kozlowski said.
The objects scattered around the drawings were used to mimic them — one can see the objects but he may no nothing more about it.
It took Kozlowski two days, with the help of two students, to put the objects on the wall. He chose the drawings and worked around them. The piece shown at the museum is just one of many he has done. He has pieces in other exhibits in New York City, the United Kingdom and Australia, among others.
The poets of the "Call and Response" exhibit are Kuipers and McLarney. Bondy is a visual artist whose art includes three drawings.
DiSclafani is a fiction writer for the exhibit and has a piece titled, "Wilson: A Short Story." Krtić's "Nocturnal Flight" is of a specimen of two owls, and Wilson has a piece on other ancient specimens.
The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday with free admission. For more information visit www.jcsm.auburn.edu or call 334-844-1484.
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