Brenda Garand and Christipher García

BRENDA GARAND: NORTHERN FICTION SCULPTURE

September 4-October 12, 2007

Sculptural works of New Hampshire native Brenda Garand, will be on view at the Wright State University Art Galleries now through October 12. A public Gallery Talk by Brenda Garand is scheduled for Friday, October 12, at 6:00 p.m. in the University Art Galleries, A132 Creative Arts Center.

Garand was raised in Hancock, NH, were she spent her childhood working alongside her father on their family farm. She entered the sculpture program at the University of New Hampshire at Durham, eventually earning her MFA at Queens College in Flushing, NY, studying under Lawrence Fane and Tom Doyle. Garand traveled to Paris on a Fulbright scholarship in the late eighties, where her work moved from large-scale wire pieces toward smaller, wall-mounted metal works that were often inspired by medieval armor and reliquaries. Upon returning to America, Garand’s work displayed a renewed interest both in her French-Canadian heritage and her New England surroundings.

The work currently on display at the Wright State University Art Galleries combines the physical labor and farming culture that defined her early childhood with the trade and domestic skills she acquired in that environment. Garand juxtaposes natural fibers with manmade objects, such as wool with metalworks, creating a delicate balance of opposites in her work.

Brenda Garand is currently an Associate Professor of Studio Art at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. Garand has previously exhibited her work across the country as well as internationally, including exhibitions in Paris, Québec, and Tokyo.

The exhibition is supported by the Friends of the Galleries, Wright State College of Liberal Arts and Ohio Arts Council.