Raleigh Hightower
Lifestyle Editor
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The Clara M. Eagle Gallery opened four new art exhibits to celebrate the artwork of Murray State alumni and other artists.

On Jan. 20, the Eagle Gallery opened the “Recollections: alumni selections from the collection” and “Roadside Attractions” exhibits. On Jan. 26, the “Landlocked: Redux” and “dirt from here and dirt from there” exhibits opened.

Upon entering the Eagle Gallery on the sixth floor of Price Doyle Fine Arts, the first exhibit displayed is the “Recollections: alumni selections from the collection” exhibit. This exhibit features work from the University’s permanent collection created by alumni of the Department of Art and Design.

Some of the notable works featured in this exhibit include an untitled piece by Jim Alexander from 1977, an untitled piece by Charles Bennet from 1978 and an untitled piece by Laurie Waite-Fellner from 1976.

The Recollections exhibit was co-curated by the University Galleries Director Dr. T. Micheal Martin.

“I am grateful for the support of the art & design faculty and staff,” Martin said. “I would like to thank the students involved in co-curating this exhibition for their focus and keen observations during the curatorial process.”

The next exhibit displayed in the Eagle Gallery is “Landlocked: Redux” by Murray State alumnus Jerry Bedor Phillips. Phillips received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Murray State in 2007. Phillips is now a building manager, studio assistant and gallery coordinator for Vanderbilt University.

Phillips works in several different media forms, including etched plexiglass, printmaking and drawing. “Landlocked: Redux” is part of a project Phillips used to investigate his own heritage and the immigration of Pacific Islanders to the U.S. after World War II.

Phillips said this exhibit is like a full circle for himself, as his 2007 Bachelors in Fine Arts  exhibition also shared the phrase “landlocked” in its title. The exhibit features drawings, etched glass work and simple origami boats.

“Gallery Director/Curator T. Michael Martin, Studio Technician Woody Leslie and their student team of gallery assistants did a great job of installing the work,” Phillips said. “It’s the first exhibition where I didn’t have my hands involved directly with the installation process, I learned to ‘let go’ of control.”

The final exhibit featured on the first floor of the Eagle Gallery was “dirt from here and dirt from there,” featuring work from Murray State alumna Sarah Phyllis Smith and artist Douglas Degges.

“As for the title of the exhibition, it’s simply a poetic way to refer to compositing, of bringing different things together from different places”, Degges said. “Sarah and I have discussed this as a way to think about ourselves as artists and in relation to the various places we’ve lived and worked.”

The exhibit features photography by Smith and drawings and paintings by Degges. According to Martin’s director statement on the exhibit, Smith attempts to explore photography’s relationship with nostalgia while Degges uses painting and drawing to slow down and reflect on the speed in which images are produced and consumed.

The last exhibition featured is “Roadside Attractions” by Raluca Iancu. The “Roadside Attractions” exhibit is displayed in the Eagle Upper Gallery.

According to Iancu, “Roadside Attractions” explores the fallibility of the technology that is a part of our everyday lives. The exhibit also explores the significance of our human interactions by comparing them to collisions.

“We depend on our technology (planes, trains, automobiles) and easily forget that it is just as fallible as our bodies,” Iancu said. “At the end of the day, all physical contact is a collision with permanent repercussions, whether visible or not.”

“Roadside Attractions” features depictions of automobiles, automobile collections and images reminiscent of street maps and animals.

Iancu will be participating in a Zoom discussion on Feb. 11, at 10:00 a.m. Information about this Zoom discussion and the art exhibits currently on display can be found on the Eagle Gallery’s Instagram page, @eaglegallery_murraystate.

To view the exhibits, visit the Clara M. Eagle Gallery in New Fine Arts Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.