The UAFS Windgate Art & Design Gallery will host an exhibition of work by Little Rock sculptor Michael Warrick titled “Perspectives on Darkness and Light” from Aug. 17 to Sept. 30. 

 

The exhibition will include a range of sculptures from the last decade and 20 sketchbook drawings from the last 20 years. At the close of the exhibition, Warrick’s newest bronze sculpture, “Vision,” will be installed near the south entrance of Windgate Art & Design and will become part of the permanent collection.

 

A reception will be 5-7 p.m. Aug. 17 at the gallery at 535 N. Waldron Road on the campus of the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith. The reception is free and open to the public. 

 

Gallery Director Don Lee said he is excited about the exhibition and the new sculpture in the collection. 

 

“Michael Warrick is an artist at the peak of his talent, and we are thrilled to be able to share his work with our students and the larger community,” Lee said. “I can’t wait to see ‘Vision’ in Windgate. Every new piece affects the other pieces in the gallery. After we look at the new piece, we can look at the rest of the collection with fresh eyes.”

 

Lee said generous donations to the UAFS Numa Society made the purchase possible. 

 

Warrick is a professor of sculpture at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The work in the exhibition uses figurative and portrait modes as a means of expression. 

 

“’Vision’ is a four-foot-tall, 3D-printed portrait cast in bronze mounted on a three-foot-tall faceted steel base and represents a man in meditation,” Warrick said describing the new piece. “The front view of the sculpture is in the form of a modeled face with the back side an exact negative of the front but layered in gold leaf. 

 

“There are many metaphors at work in this piece. Gold is one of the most precious metals on Earth, and its inclusion symbolizes that the mind is one of the most precious gifts a person has. There are also allusions to the negative and positive. The sculpture shows how a person may be calm on the outside while a storm is brewing on the inside.”

 

The gallery is open to the public with no entry fee from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

 

The Numa Society was created to raise money to commission pieces of sculpture on the UAFS campus. To learn more about how you can support sculpture on campus, call the UAFS Foundation at 479-788-7020.