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ImageAurora, New York - The Wells College Art Department is pleased to announce the second exhibition of the 2008-09 academic year. “Terrains of Absence” by artist Mark Iwinski will be on display in the String Room Gallery from October 8 through November 5. The exhibit is free and the public is cordially invited to view the show. An opening reception to be held on Wednesday, October 8 from 6:00-8:00 pm offers an opportunity to meet the artist; light refreshments will be served.

Mark Iwinski is an interdisciplinary artist and educator who works with urban architectural history and environmental concerns. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts in sculpture from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Growing up in the 1960s in Milwaukee, he became aware of a dramatic shift in city planning and the plague of urban renewal. He observed firsthand over the decades the lost and changing fabric of the city and began to think about urban architectural loss and renewal and its implications for the cultural heritage and health of our cities. This fascination with the architectural history of place resurfaces in “Terrains of Absence.”

 “Iwinski's prints offer a seductive beauty that stops us long enough to pose the question – ‘what do we lose under the rhetoric of progress’?,” said Assistant Professor of Art History and String Room Gallery Director William Ganis. “His sensual colors and papers are ultimately betrayed by the effects of the chainsaw and wrecking ball. This tension creates a powerful statement about the ambiguities many of us feel when replacing the old with the new.”

 “Terrains of Absence” features two kinds of works: huge prints made from large tree stumps on paper; and photographs that layer images of the same place, past and present. Each series respectively deals with natural and cultural history; both suggest absences in the landscape.

Iwinski’s prints and sculptures have been exhibited nationally. His artist’s book Crosscuts has been part of the recent internationally traveling exhibition Aracdia id est Artists’ Books, Nature and Landscape in 2007.

He has taught art at Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Colby College, and the College of William and Mary. Iwinski has been awarded grants from the Vermont Council for the Arts and the Cornell Council for the Arts; he is the recipient of a 2006 Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts grant for his printmaking and site specific environmental work with old growth forests. This year, he was awarded a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Photography for his photo-performative series, This was now, which is planned for a major exhibition in Ithaca in 2010; and some of which will be included the Wells College exhibition. He currently lives and works in Durham, North Carolina.

The String Room Gallery is located in Main Building. Hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Tuesday – Thursday evenings from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

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