Artists Robert ParkeHarrison and Barbara Diduk to Exhibit at Holy Cross

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery at the College of the Holy Cross presents "Kingdom," new work by Holy Cross professor Robert ParkeHarrison, and "Clay and Steel," sculpture by Barbara Diduk, from March 12 to April 14, 2001.

There will be an exhibition opening reception on Wednesday, March 14, from 5 p.m.-7:30 p.m. and a gallery talk by the artists on Monday, March 26, at 4 p.m. All events are free and open to the public.

This exhibition brings together two artists who express anxiety about today's ravaged, industrial landscape in their own, unique ways. ParkeHarrison makes a new series of photographic and mixed media works that address the ecological concerns conveyed in his previous art. Diduk explores our relation to the machine and nature with three-dimensional clay and steel forms.

In his art, ParkeHarrison creates desolate landscapes placed beneath a pale, cloudless sky. A lone figure scurries about, tinkering with obsolete machine-like contraptions as part of his futile attempt to salvage and restore the earth’s devastated surface. The artist combines varnish washes with photographic techniques that give the work a vintage feel in order to suggest a fictional world charged with loss, struggle and personal discovery.

Diduk's spare, elegant clay and steel sculptural forms refer to modern industrial objects and machine tools. Arranged in groups, the scale of the pieces range from miniature to almost human size. Diduk restricts the floor piece surfaces to subdued grays and blacks or sleek silver and gold luster while her shelf pieces burst with bright red color. Like ParkeHarrison’s work, Diduk's elongated, human-like forms possess humor.

Both artists are faculty at liberal arts colleges who currently show their work in New York. ParkeHarrison is an assistant professor of visual arts at Holy Cross, and exhibits at Bonni Benrubi Gallery, N.Y. Diduk is a faculty member at Dickinson College, Penn., and shows at Nancy Margolis Gallery, N.Y.

The hours for the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery are Monday - Friday, 11 a.m.- 4 p.m.; Saturday, 2 p.m.- 5 p.m. It is located in O'Kane Hall at the College of the Holy Cross, 1 College Street, Worcester, Mass., 01610. Admission to the gallery is free.