Join us on Friday, October 30, from 5 – 7 pm for the opening reception of Light & Form, an exhibit that features select drawings from UAFS students.

Charcoal and paper are humble materials, yet in practiced hands they become tools for capturing the full drama of light and shadow. First-year students at the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith, majoring in Studio Art or Graphic Design, attend a rigorous 16-week foundation Drawing course learning to see the world not as objects but as shapes, values, and relationships. That training culminates in a final cast drawing assignment where students are tasked with rendering a plaster sculpture from the university’s collection with accuracy, sensitivity, and an understanding of how light moves across three-dimensional form.

The large-scale Alter Ego drawings from the upper-level Advanced Drawing classes give the students much more scope for authorship and creativity. Using the same formal foundations of shape, value, and proportional relationships, the students create a self-portrait with their likeness but with a different identity in a large-scale (5’x4’) drawing. The result is a sort of masquerade party in the art department. The works presented here represent some of the most surprising and imaginative solutions to the challenge of the assignment.

Reception is free with light refreshments provided. After opening night, UAFS Light & Form will be on view through February 14. This exhibition is sponsored by an anonymous donor.