Untitled (Someone’s in the Garden), 1998, by Steve Goff, is part of the Comer Collection at UT Dallas. It will be included in the “Of Nature” exhibit opening this week at the University.
The photography exhibit “Of Nature,” a collection of works by artists who find inspiration in the natural world, opens this week in the Edith O’Donnell Arts and Technology Building gallery. From an emphasis on scientific phenomena and the recording of flora and fauna to fictional images of natural phenomena, the artists reveal the power of observation and our relationship to our environment.
One artist featured in the show, Lucas Foglia will discuss his photographs at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Naveen Jindal School of Management Davidson Auditorium. A reception will precede the talk from 6 to 7 p.m. at the gallery.
Foglia grew up on a small family farm in New York. He holds a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in photography from Yale University and a bachelor’s degree in art semiotics from Brown University. His photographs have been widely exhibited in the United States and in Europe. They are also featured in the permanent collections of museums, including the Denver Art Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
“Of Nature” is curated by UT Dallas doctoral student Twyla Bloxham. She will give a lecture about the exhibit at 2 p.m. Thursday in the Davidson Auditorium.
Bethlehem #25, 1988, by John Pfahl, will also be part of the new exhibit.
“The exhibition presents an overview of photographers who approach their work with an appreciation of the Earth’s beauty and intrigue as well as an awareness of the increasing fragility of the environment and the detrimental effects of our actions,” Bloxham said.
An Iowa native, Bloxham attended the University of Iowa where she received undergraduate degrees in environmental studies and photography.
She continued her education at Texas Woman’s University, where she received an MFA in photography. She has been teaching at the Art Institute of Dallas as assistant professor in the Media Arts Department since 2010. Currently, she is an aesthetic studies doctoral student at UT Dallas. Her art includes film, digital, alternative processes, bookmaking, and sculpture with a focus on nature, humans and their complex interactions with the natural world.
The photographs included in the show are part of the Comer Collection in the School of Arts and Humanities at UT Dallas. The collection was initiated in 2004 through the donation of Marilyn and Jerry Comer. This wide-ranging archive, made up of more than 300 photographs and hundreds of books and journals, serves as a resource for graduate students pursuing research in the area of photographic practice and contemporary art.