Students honor former art store with gallery

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Indiana University Southeast fine art student Shawn McPheron is one of 10 seniors featured in an art exhibit titled Eclectica, located at 315 Pearl St. in New Albany inside the former Preston Arts Center. Staff photo by Kevin McGloshen

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November 23, 2011

By DAVID A. MANN David.Mann@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Wed Nov 23, 2011, 01:37 AM EST

NEW ALBANY — As was the case for many local artists, New Albany’s Preston Arts Center was a special place for Shawn McPheron.

“We lived here,” he said. “It was the only place on this side of the river you could buy supplies.”

After 70 years of being in business the shop closed its doors in August, leaving an open space downtown. Temporarily, at least, McPheron and other art students from Indiana University Southeast have found a way to fill the space as well as pay tribute to their former supplier.

Gallery Eclectica, a partnership of 10 graduating students, opened at the site at 315 Pearl St. on Saturday night and has kept hours a few days this week. It’ll be open again between 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and on Saturday from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. for the New Albany Jingle Walk.

Numerous disciplines are on display, including paintings, drawings and even one video piece.

On the rear wall of the gallery, McPheron has an oil pastel drawing of the Ohio River shore near the Clark Cabin, called “River Rise.” The piece is put together on six approximately 4-foot tall panels that hang separately, creating a series.

“We all had different goals in mind,” he said when asked how he and fellow artists decided which pieces to display. Personally, he said, he went back through some of the pieces he’d done over the years as a way to highlight the contribution Preston Art Center made to his work.

“This place has a lot of meaning,” said Wil Goolsby, a photographer and graphic design student. “It was eye opening the first time we walked in here and it was gone.”

Time is the theme that Goolsby’s work follows. A piece he has up called the equation of time — written “?t = ? ? ? = M + ?p – a” — features 296 minute-long photo exposures taken over the course of a starry night near Paoli, where there was little artificial light to interfere. The effect is a motion blurred image of the Earth’s rotation seen in the stars.

The gallery opening is a part of a collaborative senior project for the students, said Brian Jones, professor of fine art at IU Southeast.

“They decided to do an exhibit,” he said. “They picked Preston’s because of the connection. There’s a strong, emotional kind of connection.”

Jones said hundreds came out for the opening of the gallery Saturday night. McPheron said that for some of the artists it was the first time their work had been on display.

Preston Art Center is still open in Louisville, 3048 Bardstown Road. Once the gallery closes, neighboring River City Winery is expected to move into the New Albany space.

For additional information on the artists and the gallery, check out galleryeclectica.com.

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