MONMOUTH, ILLINOIS (August 21, 2020) — Monmouth College's first art exhibit of the academic year is now on display in the Len G Everett Gallery in Hewes Library.
Titled "Context," the exhibit features paintings and collages by Monmouth art professor Stephanie Baugh (pictured below). The exhibit will be on display through September 10."In an earlier artist statement, I wrote, 'The works I create are responses to my efforts of paying attention to aspects of my experience that suggest that the aesthetic can be entangled with the everyday,'" wrote Baugh in her statement about "Context."Baugh said that perspective on making continues to feel "authentic" for her, but for most of the works in 'Context," the everyday activity she focuses on is reading, particularly novels.
"I am exploring two possible artistic responses to reading," she wrote. "Some of these works are inspired by concepts and ideas that are discussed in texts, and some of these works take a more direct approach and include passages, the actual words of the writers."
Baugh said the works in "Context" were created mostly in the past few months."They represent a path of inquiry, a project or an exploration of an idea," she said. "They are not, and are not intended to be, a clarified statement about who I am as an artist. More, they are the artifacts that are created as I continue to consider how to live in the world."Baugh lived in her native Alabama, as well as Florida and Georgia, before moving to Monmouth in 2005. She joined the faculty a year later. She teaches graphic design and other foundational studio art courses and also serves as co-coordinator for the Introduction to Liberal Arts course for first-year students.Also the College's gallery director and co-chair of the art department, Baugh currently has art on display in an exhibition in Sacramento, Calif., and will soon be featured as part of the "64 Arts" show at the Buchanan Center for the Arts in downtown Monmouth.More information about Baugh and her exhibit is available at context-art.weebly.com.Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, no public events or receptions will be held this year for exhibits in the Everett Gallery. Following College policies, individuals visiting the gallery must wear masks, practice social distancing and refrain from touching doorways and walls.
