Crossing the River at 106 South Division

February 15, 2007 == MEDIA ADVISORY

Summary: Calvin's new downtown art gallery will host a student show from February 16 to March 9.

For the full story, see http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2006-07/dening.htm

106 South Division, the gallery space that anchors Calvin College in downtown Grand Rapids, will host a solo show featuring the work of a senior student from February 16 to March 9.

An opening reception for “Crossing the River,” an exhibition of paintings and drawings by Calvin bachelor of arts studio major Eugene Dening, will be held from 7 to 10 pm on Friday, February 16 in the downtown gallery.

The show, composed of 12 drawing-paintings, four works on canvas and several installation elements, took Dening a year to create.

“Crossing the River” explores the ideas surrounding a rite of passage.

“I’m pretty interested in coming of age films," Dening says, "the idea of violence and tragedy as an initiation to manhood*and juxtaposing those elements with an aesthetic that is maybe a conflicting aesthetic."

Dening’s native landscape, in Bentley, Alberta, Canada, informs the narrative of the show.

“I’m interested in how landscape and a certain place forms identity.” he says. “And so I definitely draw from the landscape back home in Alberta, the big skies and the wide open spaces. I think I may be a bit nostalgic for it, especially the land.”

Joel Zwart, Calvin director of exhibitions, says the show hangs together very well, and adds that 106 South Division is the ideal place to host “Crossing the River.”

“I think Eugene’s exhibition is a good case study for why this place is important,” he says. “Here is an example of a show that a student proposed, and put together, that could have happened somewhere else, but wouldn’t have the life it has now. The space downtown has given us much more flexibility in being able to show student work."

For the full story see http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2006-07/dening.htm

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Received on Thu Feb 15 09:09:05 2007