Cubes, curves take shape in gallery

The past and present will cross paths at the School of Fine Arts Gallery on Friday.
Work by Hope School of Fine Arts professor emeritus William Itter and fundamentals studio director Martha MacLeish will share the gallery space. Both exhibits open with a reception at 6:30 p.m.

“It’s a nice correlation, with how their work relates and how it doesn’t,” said Megan Abajian, public relations director for the SoFA gallery. “It worked with their schedules.” 

Itter’s exhibit, titled “William Itter: A Retrospective, Paintings and Drawings 1969-2009,” is a collection of 75 drawings and paintings produced during Itter’s career at IU.
 
“People will see things they’ve never seen before,” Itter said. “It’s a big show that’s taken a long time to get together.”

After receiving his masters degree in fine art from the Yale University School of Art  and working at the University of Pittsburgh, Itter was offered a job at IU in 1969. Itter said that while he never saw himself in the Midwest, it was the right move.  

“I never dreamed I’d come to Indiana,” Itter said. “But it was everything I could have ever wanted.” 

During his time at IU, Itter developed a program for fine art graduate associate instructors who taught fundamental studio courses.

“I got to shape the program creatively and was always happy to teach introductory courses,” Itter said.

Itter will give an introductory lecture for his exhibit, titled “Cubes Curves Facts Fantasy: A Paradigm.” The introduction will be 5:30 p.m. Friday  in Radio/TV Center room 251. 

The SoFA gallery exhibit is in conjunction with “Form and Surface: African Ceramics, Baskets and Textiles,” currently on display at the IU Art Museum. The exhibit is comprised of artwork donated by Itter, who said he started collecting African pieces at the beginning of his career in Pittsburgh.

“What is on display at the art museum is about a third of the entire collection,” Itter said. “I got things from antique shops, dealers here in Indiana. I am very interested in collecting these pieces.”

Itter added that when the opportunity arose, it made logical sense to hold both exhibits at the same time.

“The incentive for the show is a duel exhibition as a collector and artist,” Itter said.

“The School of Fine Arts gallery needed someone for the fall of 2009 to fill the space, so it all worked out.”

While Itter’s gallery is a look back at a career, MacLeish’s gallery, titled “Surface Structures,” will feature pieces created primarily in the past year.

“My background is in painting, but I gradually began working with three-dimensional pieces,” MacLeish said. “The pieces are made of plastic, and with them I want to convey a sense of energy and complexity.”

Both MacLeish and Itter said they have a passion for the fundamentals of art and teaching them to students, a trait that brought them both to the SoFA.
“I hired her,” Itter said. “She has a great work ethic.”

MacLeish’s work will be featured in the east gallery, while Itter’s will be in the central and west galleries. Both artists said they were honored to share the gallery space with one another.

“I worked with him for seven or eight years before he retired,” MacLeish said. “He already had his show in the works – it kind of fell together. It’s really terrific, it’s an honor to have a show with him.”