2015 Efroymson Bridge Year Fellowship Exhibit to end anniversary season

The University of Southern Indiana's McCutchan Art Center/ Pace Galleries will feature "Jennifer Niswonger: Gray Area, The 2015 Efroymson Bridge Year Fellowship Exhibit" as its final exhibit in celebration of USI's 50th anniversary.

The exhibition will run December 9-17, 2015, and January 5-17, 2016, in the McCutchan Art Center/Pace Galleries, located in the lower level of the Liberal Arts Center on the USI campus. (The Art Center is closed December 19 through January 4.) A free public reception will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, December 9.

Niswonger is a 2014 studio art graduate, and has spent 2015 creating paintings and drawings to perfect her portfolio for graduate school application as USI's 2015 Efroymson Bridge Year Fellow.

The Efroymson Bridge Year Fellowship is a competitive award from the Efroymson Family Fund that provides a recent graduate of USI's Art Department a year to work on creative projects, apply to graduate programs and assist in exhibition spaces and teaching under the supervision of a faculty mentor.

In her artist statement, Niswonger says, "My paintings give the audience an opportunity to consider mortality and to reflect on the fragility of life. The themes portrayed are meant to stimulate the audience intellectually and encourage the viewer to consider the role of the scene depicted and their own role in a larger context."

"For example, in The Trophy, the audience is challenged to consider its relationship with a common source of food for many in southern Indiana - deer," says Niswonger. "While many families benefit from the animals flesh, we are forced to examine other reasons humans hunt. Trophy hunting and population control are themes I hope to scrutinize in my current and upcoming work."

The McCutchan Art Center/Pace Galleries is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call 812-228-5006.