Toshiko Takaezu: Selected Works
Toshiko Takaezu’s exquisitely glazed closed-form stoneware and porcelain works combine Eastern traditions with Western techniques and aesthetics. Takaezu, born in Hawaii of Japanese descent, has been working with clay for over six decades. The outcome of her works, fired in either a precision gas kiln or in an unpredictable wood-fire Anagama kiln, relies on Takaezu’s long experience and instinctive understanding of each method. Her works range from palm-sized to five-foot towers, with forms that shift from bulbous to willowy.

Works are loaned courtesy of the artist and Charles Cowles Gallery, New York.

Reception for the Artist: October 3, 2:00-5:00 p.m.
Artist's talk: October 3, 3:30 p.m. Williams Center 108

Georges Rousse
Interventions: Installation and Photographs

French artist Georges Rousse used the Williams Center Gallery as his temporary studio, working with paint, simple building materials, the laws of perspective, and distortions created by a camera lens to create an illusion that coalesced into a single vantage point. Rousse’s “optical puzzle” installations are always temporary; the final product is a large-scale photograph of the illusion. Gallery visitors observed or participated in the installation process over a ten-day period. During the exhibition visitors viewed a selection of photographs of previous projects, completed Lafayette installation, and the resulting photograph.

Reception: Sunday, October 31, 3:00-5:00 p.m.

Regional Artists Exhibition: Sheltered
Guest curator, Paul Felder

Shelter from hostile elements is a fundamental natural need. From the fibrous husk of the coconut to the flexible skin of the human, from the mathematical elegance of the snail shell to the turreted confusion of the McMansion, many types of physical shelters have evolved.

The evolution of the emotional shelter may be less obvious, though human beings work to protect themselves from psychic as well as physical peril. The bomb shelter and voice mail are two modern examples of efforts to keep personal interaction at a cautious distance.

The exhibition, Sheltered, presente 20 artists’ understanding and exploration of the need for shelter as it touches all aspects of life. Works may consider physical and emotional issues, man and nature, past and future, gender, politics, or any subject or permutation that relates to the notion of shelter.

Artist Statements & curator's statement

Closing Reception: Sunday, January 30 3:00-5:00 p.m.
"Brown Bag" lecture by curator Paul Felder, Wednesday, January 26, noon, Williams Center 108

Bruce Davidson: Time of Change, 1961–1965
One of the leading documentary photographers of the last century, Bruce Davidson joined a busload of Freedom Riders in 1961 and spent the next four years chronicling the civil rights movement. “Here are the freedom rides, marches, voter registration campaigns, and police violence, and here are scenes of the realities that provoked those actions—everyday black life, North and South, from dire poverty to tenuous middle-class status,” observes Ray Olson of Booklist. “This is what courage and nobility look like, and this other is what bigotry and xenophobia look like.” To mark the fortieth anniversary pivitol events such as the Selma to Montgomery March and the passage of the Voting Rights Act, the exhibition will showcase photographs from Davidson’s 2002 book, Time of Change, Civil Rights Photographs 1961-1965. Exhibition organized by Magnum Photos, New York.

Lecture by Davidson, Thursday, February 24, 4:00 p.m., Oechsle Lecture Room
Reception and book signing to follow lecture at the Williams Center Gallery

Deborah Willis, who wrote the introduction to Davidson's Time of Change,will give a talk, “Picturing Us: African-American Identity in Photography,” Wednesday, Feb. 23, 7:00 p.m. Williams Center, room 108. Willis is a McArthur Fellow and Professor of Photography and Imaging, New York University, Tisch School of the Arts. The lecture will be followed by a book signing. Her talk is sponsored by the Office of Intercultural Development.

Also, at Skillman Library is Diminishing Returns, an exhibition of photographs by Larry Fink.

Additional information about Deborah Willis, Larry Fink, and Bruce Davidson's lectures and other Black History Month acitivies can be found at the press release for Black History Month, "Picturing Us: Then and Now."

April 1 - July 15

Installation period:
March 28-31

Stacy Levy (center) with students who assisted with installation.

Thanks to Amanda Bochner ’05, Charles Felix ’08 (not pictured), Lai Huang ’07, Charles Jun ’08, Taryn Landers ’05, QiJie Lao ’08, Vanessa Araujo-Lopera ’08, and Lindsay O’Connor ’08 for their assistance.

Stacy Levy: Blue Lake
Stacy Levy’s focus typically includes water, wind, tides, pollution, and decay; her works tell the stories of specific sites and their intersection of ecological and cultural influences. Her Lafayette installation, a project she has had in mind for several years, is a departure. Levy’s Blue Lake will not be a representation of an existing lake, nor use materials from an existing body of water, but will be like a “mirage” or memory, representing a longing for water, and the absence of a perfect blue lake in our landscape.

"meet the artist" Wednesday, March 30, 7:30 p.m. An informal opportunity to ask Stacy Levy questions and see the work-in-progress.

"Brown Bag" lecture: Friday, April 22 (Earth Day), noon, Williams Center.

Reception: Sunday, May 8 (Mother's Day), 3-5 p.m. Visitors are invited to take a "bouquet" from the installation.

press release
More information on Blue Lake
Stacy Levy's website

An illustrated brochure with essay by Kathy Bruce will be available.

Selections from the College Art Collections
This exhibition will showcase works from Lafayette College's collections of eighteenth-through early twenty-first century American and European paintings, prints, and sculpture; vintage photographs; and contemporary American sculpture and paintings. Click here for more information about the Collections.

We appreciate your feedback

Please email your comments or questions about exhibitions to artgallery@lafayette.edu