I posted shots yesterday of the artwork outside our building...as it turns out, we've got art inside, too. Who knew?

It's a happy coincidence that Claire Sherwood is in this show. She was picked a year ago, long before I worked here. Claire and I both got our MFAs at Maryland; we were even in the same thesis show. It was obviously a pleasure to see how her work has developed--and to see her new baby.

Her work sits in the Smith corridor. Blast (pictured) consists of objects printed with coal dust that's been sifted through lace. Claire has been living and working in West Virginia for a few years now, so her choice of materials reflects the local landscape and culture.

Mike Martin makes lean, reductive paintings, relying on hard lines and edges, flat, unmodified colors, and glitter. Yes, glitter. The signifiers that float around in his work tend to relate to constellations, architecture, and sci-fi.

The scale and ambition of a piece like Chawky Frenn's Missa Pro Pace, a 96" X 96" wooden altarpiece, painted inside and out, makes it pretty much a show stopper. It was a hell of a thing to install and light, though.

Heidi Fowler paints images of man's casual interventions in the natural world--telephone poles, errant shopping carts, remote railroad crossings. Underneath the paint, though, are all sorts of collaged materials--junk mail envelopes, clothing, rulers. Find her show in the Tiffany gallery.

I think Alessandra Torres' show downstairs in Truland Gallery A exemplifies the AAC's mission. Alessandra's a young emerging artist who's done some terrific performances and installations. Her show here, Figure Study, feels like a transition into a new body of work. Her new pieces feature magnetic poseable figures in hinged steel frames, and playfully reference dance, Zen painting, and body art. Over the course of the show, each piece will be rearranged and reconfigured.

I couldn't take very good pictures of Gillian Brown's video pieces--need my tripod. So as you examine this blurry photo, you'll have to take my word on the inherent coolness of these little mixed media pieces: Video loops are projected onto and through tiny translucent objects in a darkened room.

Sorry, no shots of Laurel Lukaszewski's installation, Kaminari--there was a meeting being held in that gallery as I was taking pictures. A detail of one of her sculptures appears on the front of the postcard for this show. Kaminari consists of dozens of dark grey tangles of porcelain curlicues, mounted from floor to ceiling in a continuous undulating band, and occasionally spilling across the floor, into the viewer's space, too. If I can, I'll add some shots here later.

The reception for Fall Solos is tomorrow--Friday, October 5th, from 6:00 to 9:00. There will be outdoor performances in conjunction with the 0 Project--and plenty to see all around.