Dance exhibit to be unveiled at Fairfield U.

DANCE: Marc Mellon, Jane Sutherland, Philip Trager” to exhibit at Fairfield UniversityThomas J. Walsh Art GallerySeptember 18, 2015 – January 15, 2016

FAIRFIELD – Fairfield University’s Thomas J. Walsh Art Gallery presents its new exhibition, “DANCE: Marc Mellon, Jane Sutherland, Philip Trager,”on view from Friday, September 18, 2015,throughFriday, January 15, 2016. An opening reception, free and open to the public, will take place at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts on Thursday, September 17, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. This opening event will also include two one-half hour sneak-peak performances of a work in progress by Adele Myers and Dancers.

For more than five millennia, visual artists have been drawn to dance as a subject. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans all immortalized dancers – and their dances — in a range of media, including murals, vase decorations, cameos, and coins. Christian art also exhibited a marked fascination with the Bible’s most infamous dancer, Salome, whose mesmerizing movements induced Herod to accede to the decapitation of John the Baptist. The reason for this magnetic pull is obvious: dance is expressive, evocative, and erotic. Through dance, stories are told and histories rendered tangible. Dance captivates the human spirit and, despite its extreme physicality, transports us to a plane of existence that transcends the body — precisely the same effect that sculpture, painting, and photography can elicit.

“DANCE” examines the rich relationship between these “sister arts” through the eyes of three gifted practitioners: sculptor Marc Mellon, painter Jane Sutherland, and photographer Philip Trager. Each of these artists has had a distinguished career, with numerous notable exhibitions across the country and works of art held in public as well as private collections, both in the U.S. and abroad. Though their expressive “languages” may differ, they all bring a keen eye, cutting intellect, and talented hand to their oeuvres, creating visual tours de force for their audiences to enjoy. Visitors to this show will relish the unique opportunity to see Mellon’sclassically inspired life-size bronze sculptures of dancers juxtaposed with Sutherland’s intriguing Little Dancer paintings, a series directly inspired by Edgar Degas’s great work of this same name. Trager’s silver gelatin and platinum prints of dancers — whether airborne or with bodies quieted into astoundingly expressive postures — round out this extraordinary triumvirate, whose works delight the eye as much as they do the mind and the spirit.

This exhibition, which is part of an exciting collaboration between the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts and the Walsh Art Gallery of the Museums of Fairfield University, is a celebration of the human form and its connection with spirituality and storytelling. It is made possible, in part, by a grant from Connecticut Humanities, a non-profit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Some of the Dance programming is funded in part by Expeditions program of the New England Foundation made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional support from the six New England state arts agencies. Additional support has been provided by Dr. Arnold J. Davis, Lord of Barnham Broom. This exploration of dance will offer a forum for a rich array of public programming including a faculty panel, dance performances, lectures, and workshops for students and families.

Free events scheduled in conjunction with this exhibition include gallery talks by all three artists in the Walsh Art Gallery at 5 p.m. — Jane Sutherland on Monday, September 21, Philip Trager on Wednesday, October 21 and Marc Mellon on Tuesday, November 10. On Monday, October 5 at 5:30 p.m., Quick Center Director Peter Van Heerden will moderate an interdisciplinary panel that will examine Dance through a variety of lenses. This panel will include faculty members Carol Ann Davis, Marti LoMonaco, artist Jane Sutherland and dancer David Dorfman. On Saturday, September 19, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Family Day: Dance and Art will take place at the Bellarmine Museum of Art and the Walsh Art Gallery and will feature drop-in craft activities, a child-friendly tour, and story time. Family Days are designed for children ages 4-12 and are free and open to the public. Please pre-register at www.eventbrite.com, as space is limited. The Bellarmine Museum will be open to the public from 1-4 p.m. that day. Family Days are made possible by a grant from the Maximilian E. and Marion O. Hoffman Foundation.

An extensive program of Contemporary dance at the Quick Center will also complement this exhibition. Performers include EVIDENCE/Ronald K. Brown on October 16, David Dorfman Dance on November 7, Emily Coates and Sarah Demers on November 15, and Savion Glover’s “DANCE HOLIDAY SPeCTacULaR” on December 6. Judith Jamison, Artistic Director Emerita of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, will speak at the Open VISIONS Forum on January 31, 2016, at 3 p.m. Tickets for these events are available through the Quick Center Box Office (203-254-4010) or at www.quickcenter.com beginning July 17, 2015.

Admission to the Thomas J. Walsh Art Gallery is always free. Hours are Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. when the University is in session, and one hour before Quick Center performances (WAG is open on select Saturdays; see website calendar for details). The Thomas J. Walsh Art Gallery is located in the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts on the campus of Fairfield University, 200 Barlow Road, Fairfield, Conn.