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Student Art Exhibit Explores 'Home Sweet Home'
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 12, 2012) — Art studio senior Meryl R.B. Shapiro will present her BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) solo exhibition "Home Sweet Home" on the journey of women transitioning from working in the home to outside employment. The show, which is free and open to the public, will be open for viewing 1-6 p.m. Monday through Thursday, Nov. 12-15, in the Barnhart Gallery of the Reynolds Building, Room 206. The exhibition will end with a reception from 6-8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 16.
"Home Sweet Home" includes pieces that vary in form, construction and materials. Fabric and paper works were created through drawing, painting, printing and stitchery. Stylistically representational, they include quilts, clothing, books, houses and prints. Their common focus is on women's changing domestic role, both over time and within her lifetime, as well as the transmission of that role to future generations.
Shapiro's current work is not only reflective of her personal experience and observation, but also aims to encourage visitors to contemplate and recognize the social and economic journey women have under taken transitioning from traditional work within the home to working outside the home. Images reference the contemporary ongoing struggle for balance of home and family with a career. Additionally, attention is given to the variety of lifestyles women may assume through choices or circumstances as they grow older.
A professional educator and consultant, Shapiro previously earned a doctoral degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana in early childhood education and child development. As an artist, she prefers an acrylic medium, and rural landscapes dominate her paintings. Shapiro has participated in many group exhibitions in Kentucky, including several at Lexington's Headley Whitney Museum in conjunction with Freedom Fest and at Francisco Farm Arts Festival in Midway. In addition to Shapiro's artwork in private collections around the country, her painting "Homecoming" is on display in the permanent collection of the Woodford Country Library in Versailles, Ky.
Shapiro returned to UK as a nontraditional student to further her studies in art. With a concentration in drawing, her goals of gaining new information, skills, techniques and perspectives were accomplished. Moving beyond acrylic landscape paintings, "Home Sweet Home," represents a more conceptual body of work.
"Home Sweet Home" is presented by the UK School of Art and Visual Studies in the UK College of Fine Arts.
For additional information on this solo exhibition, contact Meryl R.B. Shapiro by phone at (859) 873-4473 or by email at meryl.shapiro@uky.edu.
MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Hale, (859) 257-8716
or whitney.hale@uky.edu
