NEWS RELEASE
Pat Autenrieth, a mixed media artist based in Hyattsville, Md., will showcase a collection of her quilts in an exhibit at Park University's Campanella Gallery beginning Monday, Feb. 4. The exhibit will be on display through Friday, March 15.
Autenrieth, an associate professor of fine art at the Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington, D.C., attended school in Kansas City, Mo., earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in sculpture from the Kansas City Art Institute. She began exhibiting as a painter before switching to the quilt medium in 1985. Autenrieth has shown in group and solo exhibits throughout the U.S. and internationally, and her work has been reproduced in many publications, including Robert Shaw's The Art Quilt. She has received two project grants from the Prince George's (Md.) Arts Council and two Individual Artist Awards from the Maryland State Arts Council.
Autenrieth says she came to quilt making accidently. "I studied art before sewing was considered a legitimate art medium, but thanks to the feminist movement and the rise of material culture studies, making quilts invites closer consideration. My attraction to the quilt medium is its halfway position between high and low art, flatness and dimensionality, and the ability to employ several media within the one -- from tradition-bound applique and patchwork, to drawing, painting and digital printing."
The Campanella Gallery is located inside the University's McAfee Memorial Library, within Park's Mabee Learning Center/Academic Underground. Admission is free. The Gallery is open 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday; and 4 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday.
For more information about Autenrieth and her work, visit Autenrieth's website, www.arsaut.com/ or contact Donna Bachmann, director of the Campanella Gallery and chair of Park's Department of Art and Design, at donna.bachmann@park.edu or (816) 584-6457.
