Art Exhibits. Mattie Kelly Arts Center Galleries at Northwest Florida State Coll

The 2011-12 season of Art Exhibits at the Mattie Kelly Arts Center Galleries opens with three exciting exhibitions on display from September 10 to October 15 - Bayou to Bayou: Blue Dog on the Emerald Coast; Beneath the Surface; and This Life.  The opening reception is Saturday, September 10 from 6:00 -7:30 p.m. Through a special partnership with the Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation of Destin and the George Rodrigue Foundation of New Orleans, Louisiana, the Holzhauer Gallery will host the works of George Rodrigue, creator of the beloved “Blue Dog.”  Rodrigue first featured the “Blue Dog” in his 1984 painting, Loup Garou, but in the last two decades the Cajun artist’s iconic, wide-eyed canine has become recognizable the world over.  The artist’s bold paintings and graphic works, included in contemporary collections around the world, have come to stand for Louisiana in general and the rebuilding of post-Katrina New Orleans in particular.  In the McIlroy Gallery, the works of Karl Zerbe (1903-1972), a German-born American painter whose paintings make up part of the canon of American art, will be on display.  Works in this exhibition -- many of which subtly chronicle the American experience, particularly life in the Civil-Rights-Era-South – come to NWFSC courtesy of LeMoyne Center for the Visual Arts in Tallahassee.  Zerbe’s remarkable career began in Germany in the 1920s, and his work, like that of many other Expressionists, was targeted as “degenerate” and destroyed by the Nazis.  He became a US citizen in 1939, and soon thereafter began experimenting with encaustic (painting with wax), a technique for which he is recognized as an American master.  In the 1950s, Zerbe took a teaching position at Florida State University.  Zerbe’s paintings and prints compel viewers to look beyond the superficial image (often the human form, but also landscapes and animals) to see the personality, meaning, or the question within.  In addition to a selection of highlights from Zerbe’s later career, the exhibition will include his acclaimed bird series, one of the very last projects he undertook before his death in 1972. A companion exhibition, “This Life”, will be installed in the MKAC Galleries Front Hall.  This Life features art by members of the Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts Artists’ League.  Artworks in this show address the human experience and ways of life set against the backdrop of the disappearing Florida landscape.  Artists Michèle Beaudin, Linda Clark, Terrie Corbett, Mariann Kearsley, Amy Koontz Knippel, donalee pond-Koenig, Cheryl Sattler, and Mary Liz Tippin-Moody present paintings, drawings, sculpture, fine craft, and mixed-media work in this compelling exhibition. For information contact Gallery director KC Williams williamsk@nwfsc.edu. Gallery hours: Monday through Friday, 10:00 am – 4:00 p.m. and 90 minutes prior to most Mattie Kelly Arts Center Mainstage and Sprint Theatre performances.  The galleries are closed weekends will be closed Friday, September 16, for a private event. The Mattie Kelly Arts Center is located on the Niceville campus of NWF State College at 100 College Boulevard and is easily accessible via Interstate 10, U.S. Highway 285 and Highway 85.