The works of Barbara Balzer and Linda Hall playfully draw on art history and mythology using ceramics and soft sculpture. Their fantastical and sometimes humorous works are being shown together for the first time, providing two distinct viewpoints on age-old themes, in “Untethered, Stories Come Like Charms: Barbara Balzer and Linda Hall.”
After an opening reception at 5 p.m. Oct. 12 featuring a theatrical performance and an artist talk, the exhibit will remain on display in the Wasmer Art Gallery through Nov. 1. Curated by Gallery Director John Loscuito, and Gallery Coordinator Anica Sturdivant, it is sponsored in part by Gene and Lee Seidler, Renata and R.J. Vigoda and by the State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.
More than enigmatic 30 sculptures and installations ranging from the intimate to the monumental will guide viewers through the space.
“As we enter this exhibition, we are like archaeologists uncovering fragmentary remnant of a lost civilization. We look for clues we can recognize, patterns and categories that will help us find meaning in these works, a coherent framework or context in which to place them,” Associate Professor Anne-Marie Bouché wrote in an essay for the exhibit catalog. “Drawing on an extensive heritage of visual culture, myth, legend, religious belief and human experience, some eerily remind us of totems, myths or shamanistic religions, others evoke fragments of our common past.”
The Wasmer Art Gallery is in the Arts Complex on FGCU’s main campus at 10501 FGCU Blvd. S. Parking is available in Lot 7 for gallery visitors. Regular viewing hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday and 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Thursday.