Sacrifice Opens at Reynolds Gallery

“The Florence Portfolio: Sacrifice,” a new exhibit featuring a series of intaglio prints done by American artists working in Florence, Italy, runs through Oct. 23 in Reynolds Gallery. An opening reception will be 4-6 p.m. Sept. 9 in the Art Center, on Westmont’s lower campus.

The 20 etchings that make up the Florence Portfolio were created by six artists who lived and worked together in Florence during summer 1993. The exhibition is on loan from the private collection of Walter and Darlene Hansen. Walter Hansen is a Westmont trustee and Darlene is the president of the college’s Art Center Council.

Artists Christine Anderson, Tanja Butler, Wayne Forte, Bruce Herman, Edward
Knippers and Duncan Simcoe used line and shadow to portray biblically inspired images in such works as “With His Stripes,” “Samson and Delilah,” and “To Live or Die for Joy.”

 “A common denominator throughout the portfolio is the artists' dialogue with their Renaissance predecessors…the portfolio artists responded in the context of our own contemporary setting with its peculiar fears and evasions of God's invitation to find ourselves by sacrificing ourselves,” John Skillen, of Christians in the Visual Arts (CIVA), wrote in the summer 1994 issue of Image magazine.

Art Professor Tony Askew will speak about printmaking in association with the Florence Portfolio exhibition at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 15, in Art Center Room 101. Admission is free.

Digital images of the collection may be viewed online at: www.westmont.edu/media/art. For more information, contact Askew at (805) 565-6161 or Helen Talkin at (805) 565-6162. For directions to campus, visit the college Web site at www.westmont.edu.