Exhibit exposes environmental impact

The newest addition to Marshall's art gallery is not only a showcase of artists, but also a collection of issues that have an impact on our planet.

The "Land Matters" exhibit in the Birke Art Gallery is a combination of oil and watercolor paintings, prints and a site-specific installation, all dealing with human interaction with nature. Approaches to this topic vary from abstract to figurative. Some of the works are about personal connections to nature, but others are about how people negatively affect the Earth.

Brad McCombs, assistant professor at Ohio University, said his work "Skeleton" is both poetic and political in nature. He chose to present a piece about an issue that affects West Virginia in particular - mountain top removal.

"In one sense, I am exploring the loss or the absence of something precious that has been replaced by a shell or a ghost," McCombs said. "On the other hand, I am dealing directly with the political and social impacts of strip mining and mountain top removal."

Another issue touched on is global warming. Cynthia Camlin, visiting assistant professor of painting at West Virginia University, is presenting works about this topic from her series "Extremities."

"In this work, I combine chance procedures and different mark-making strategies to build images of melting icebergs," Camlin said. "The melting icebergs are psychological metaphors expanded by the catastrophe of global warming into emblems of collapse."

Not all the pieces are strictly political, however. Jennifer Boggess, assistant professor of art at Fairmont State University, is presenting a piece that was a result of a summer's exploration of Nicholas County, W.Va. The work was done on site, and it incorporates not only that place, but also the passage of time, Boggess said.

Referring to the exhibit, Boggess said, "It speaks to an increasing concern about property use as well as our Appalachian tendency to associate personal and family histories with land."

A panel presentation of five artists involved will be at 7 p.m. today in the gallery. McCombs said the major topics of the presentation will be the artists' work, how it relates to their other work and any political issues the works represent.

The exhibition will run until Oct. 20 in the Birke Art Gallery located on the ground floor of Smith Hall. The gallery is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Steven Gill can be contacted at gill21@marshall.edu.