Photo courtesy of UA Museum of Art

Art professor Sheila Pitt's "Female Circulation" appropriates Pablo Picasso's "Two Nudes" and combines it with anatomy illustrations of the circulatory system. The UA Museum of Art is showing faculty works until Nov. 4.

Wednesday October 10, 2001

Art, more than any other major, allows students to inject soul into their studies.

By the same token, art instructors often allow emotion to display through their own work, revealing personalities as varied as their students'.

The faculty exhibition at the University of Arizona Museum of Art takes place once a year, and allows School of Art faculty members to show their own work.

This year's exhibit contains art from 43 faculty members and held its opening reception last Friday. The exhibit runs through Nov. 4.

The exhibition's featured artist is art professor Sheila Pitt, who also serves as head of the School of Art's Printmaking program. Pitt, who holds degrees in both printmaking and biology, combines both in her exhibit, "Can Science Explain the Female? An Artist's Expose."

"Her work overlays known imagery, art historical acumen and humor," Alisa Shorr, public information specialist for the UA Museum of Art, stated in a press release.

Pitt's large woodcut prints combine famous images of female beauty, such as Picasso's "Two Nudes," Botticelli's "Birth of Venus" and Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa," with scientific illustrations of the female body.

"In dissecting art historically significant images of women, I am gazing on their most 'intimate and private' places - the insides of their bodies - in order to explain the female," Pitt stated in her artist's statement.

Harold Jones, professor of art and associate director of the School of Art, also uses science as inspiration for his work.

"Science is just something that is very much part of the culture," Jones said.

His piece, titled "Climax," depicts an atom bomb cloud against a pure black background. Rather than evoking the horror of a nuclear weapon, it shows the eerie beauty of its clouds through subtle coloring and almost silver-edged clouds.

While this treatment of the atom bomb may seem odd, scientists have often remarked on the aesthetic appeal of the atom bomb.

"The first thing the scientists always respond to are the colors and its beauty," Jones said.

Jones got the idea for "Climax" during a discussion with his class.

"I was talking to my class about American icons," Jones said. "The atomic bomb was as much an icon as Elvis Presley."

And like many Elvis Presley paintings, Jones chose to paint his atomic bomb on black velvet.

"Galleries don't like black velvet - they think it's tacky," Jones said.

Barbara Rogers' painting, "Garden of Feminine Reason #15," is luminously delicate, a reflection of her personal state of mind.

"All my work is about the celebration of getting to be alive. Given all the other options, I will usually choose peace and joy," Rogers said. "Being alive is a gift from this vast edgeless universe for which I am extremely thankful."

Rogers, a professor of painting and drawing, wants her work to reflect her happiness.

"I am acutely aware that death marks the end of a life cycle for all living things, but, as an artist, I choose to focus on the beauty and opportunity of being alive," Rogers said. "I feel blessed. I hope my work reflects that simple fact."

Adjunct photography instructor Kenneth Rosenthal chose to show somewhat darker pieces, something he believes reflects the sort of mood in the air.

Rosenthal, who is also currently in a one-man show at the Metroform Gallery downtown, used prints that were part of the larger series at Metroform. The images are indeed darker, and seem much like images recalled in memory rather than photographs.

"These six pieces are from a much larger series," Rosenthal said. "There are about 75 pieces in the series with another 100 to 125 ready to be printed."

Although from the same series, the prints Rosenthal chose for the faculty exhibition are somewhat different from the rest.

"Some of the ones in Metroform are lighter in nature," Rosenthal said. "It can be different showing work you're selling. These images (in the faculty exhibition) were ones that I particularly liked, but didn't fit in well with the show at Metroform."

An ArtBreak, a lunchtime artist discussion, with Sheila Pitt takes place today at 12:15 p.m. in the UA Fine Arts Complex.