GREENEVILLE – Students and community members who participated in an 11-day trip to Austria and Germany in March will present at an upcoming show the art they created based on their experiences in these countries.
Trip participants draw en plein air at Dachau concentration camp.
The 10 participants who visited places such as Salzburg, Austria; Munich, Germany; and the Dachau concentration camp will display their works in the Clem Allison Art Gallery at Tusculum University Thursday, June 6, from 4-7 p.m. The public is invited to attend this free exhibit and speak with the students and community members about their art work.
“This trip was replete with active and experiential learning for the students and community members and enriched their lives,” said Bill Bledsoe, assistant professor of art and design at Tusculum, who led the tour. “The works they have produced based on seeing stunning scenery, extraordinary art and a tragic historic facility are marvelous and thought-provoking, and the public will benefit greatly from viewing this art. We encourage everyone to join us.”
The gallery, located inside Annie Hogan Byrd Fine Arts Center, is divided into two sections and will feature 20 pieces of art, two from each participant in the trip. One section will feature one creation apiece from all 10 participants from their two trips to Dachau. The other section will contain one work from each stemming from all of the participants’ visits to Salzburg, Munich and many museums.
The European trip was designed to enhance the drawing and painting skills of the students and community members. Those who attended were Tusculum students Dalton Darr and Hannah Morgan; alumna Ashley Howell; Greeneville High School students Ellah Brewer and Kyndall Brewer; and community members Jonathan Adams, Craig and Laura Carlson, Tracy Darr and Sherrell Lyons.
In addition to Dachau, the group traveled to multiple cities and villages in Austria and Germany and toured many sites from the classic movie “The Sound of Music.” While they were in Salzburg, participants saw the church where Maria and Capt. Georg von Trapp were married and the houses used to portray where the couple and the children lived. The museums primarily focused on works of German expressionism.
The students, Howell and community members participated in en plein air artistry, which consists of sitting outside to paint and draw what their eyes see. But they also drew variations of master works, starting with blind contours, when they were inside museums. At Dachau, the group was permitted to come to the site early to draw before other visitors arrived. They had gone before to take photographs.
The group completed their initial work on-site and in their hotel rooms and then applied the final touches when they returned home.
“We are delighted to host this exhibit and look forward to viewing the wonderful creations from this diverse group,” said Rouja Green, director of Tusculum’s Center for the Arts. “The varied selections people will view when they attend the exhibit will enable them to learn from perspectives of these 10 artists and gain an enhanced understanding of these culturally and historically significant locations. We are grateful to Bill and these community members providing these works for public viewing.”
While the exhibit is free, donations to support Tusculum’s arts program are welcome. Refreshments will be served.
To learn more about arts programming, please visit https://site.tusculum.edu/center-for-the-arts/. Additional information about the university is available at www.tusculum.edu.