Dreams, Shadows, Awe to Fill Ohio Wesleyan’s Richard M. Ross Art Museum
Artist Elizabeth Fergus-Jean is creating ‘Dreamscape,’ an installation of 100 paperclay boats suspended in mid-air, especially for Ohio Wesleyan University’s Richard M. Ross Art Museum. The exhibition, opening Nov. 9, will include photographs by Fergus-Jean’s alter-ego Izze Frances and hybrid images created by John Fergus-Jean. (Image courtesy of Elizabeth Fergus-Jean)
DELAWARE, Ohio – When Ohio Wesleyan University’s Richard M. Ross Art Museum opens Nov. 9, it will be filled with a “Dreamscape” of 100 paperclay boats suspended in tree branches and hanging from the ceiling of its main gallery.
It will be filled with “Awe,” a collection of photographs that capture the neither-this-nor-that realm of the “betwixt and between.”
And it will be filled “Penumbrae,” an exhibition of reimagined daguerreotype portraits that meld shadows of the past with pieces of the present to imbue the 19th-century images with a 21st-century contemporary context.
These three, one-person exhibitions – by central Ohio artists Elizabeth Fergus-Jean, Izze Frances (Fergus-Jean’s pseudonym for her “betwixt and between” photographs), and John Fergus-Jean – will be on display between Nov. 9 and Dec. 18 at the Ross Art Museum, 60 S. Sandusky St., Delaware. The show will open with a free, public reception with the artists from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 9. The artists then will return to campus to give a free, illustrated talk at 3:10 p.m. Nov. 13 in Room 121 of nearby Edgar Hall, 35 S. Sandusky St., Delaware.
Elizabeth Fergus-Jean’s “Dreamscape” of paperclay boats is being created especially for the Ross Art Museum. Of the piece, she states: “We know boats float in water, so seeing boats suspended in the air ignites curiosity, questioning, and imagining. … Their white hulls are akin to a blank sheet of paper, upon which the viewer can imagine their own memories and narratives. In essence, the stark whiteness against the leafless branches is like a beacon, in the hopes of illuminating the stories held within the viewer.”
Of artistic alter-ego Izze Frances’ awe-inspiring photographs, Elizabeth Fergus-Jean states: “When I lower my eyes and look into the camera’s viewfinder, it is as if the veil of this world is lifted, and I am transported into a liminal realm. Time shifts, and as I look into the ground glass I see into the world, the utter beauty of what is contained within unfolds.”
Of his past-present hybrid images, John Fergus-Jean (Elizabeth’s husband) states: “[I]nstead of being forgotten and discarded, the distressed and faded image remnants are resurrected, repurposed to connect the past within contemporary contexts. The work also references the general fate of all photographic images to be metaphors for cultural memory, in which both far outlive their historical eras, spending the vast remainder of their existences in ambiguous half-lives. This state, located somewhere between fact and oblivion, contains sublime mysteries and awakening potentials to ignite the imagination.”
Always striving to ignite the imaginations of art admirers, OWU’s Ross Art Museum is open Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The museum is handicap-accessible and admission is always free. For more information, call (740) 368-3606 or visit https://www.owu.edu/about/offices-services/richard-m-ross-art-museum/ or www.facebook.com/RossArtMuseum.
Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier liberal arts universities. Located in Delaware, Ohio, the private university offers 86 undergraduate majors and competes in 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Ohio Wesleyan combines a challenging, internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities to connect classroom theory with real-world experience. OWU’s 1,750 students represent 46 U.S. states and territories and 43 countries. Ohio Wesleyan is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the latest President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included in the U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review “best colleges” lists. Learn more at www.owu.edu.