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Faculty art exhibit features work of Mary Griep and Irve Dell

By Sarah Meyers '08
November 19, 2004

An exciting new St. Olaf faculty art exhibit featuring the work of artists Irve Dell and Mary Griep runs through Dec. 15. The exhibit, free and open to the public, is displayed in the Flaten Museum Gallery of the Dittmann Center.

Irve Dell and Mary Griep are both associate professors of art at St. Olaf College. The exhibit highlight Dell's last public commission and his work for object or puppet theater with video documentation. Griep presents Anastylosis, a series of large-scale drawings of 11th century Central European and Asian sacred spaces.

Anastylosis is a method of restoring a monument distinguished by dismantling and rebuilding the structure using the original methods and materials. "Over the past five years, I have been working on the Anastylosis series of large-scale drawings of 11th century Central European and Asian sacred spaces. The 11th century has been referred to as the Age of Faith and I find monuments that remain from that time to be sacred spaces that continue to speak to us today," says Griep. "I am not trying to represent the monuments but rather meditate upon them and their long and numinous lives. The act of drawing on such a scale is a meditative act. It mimics the role of these buildings as a way of concentrating attention."

Dell's exhibit includes puppets, set objects and video documentation of his work. "My sabbatical was well timed. I needed to make a transition in my work, from the public art I have been doing for the past six or seven years to something new," says Dell. "The work in this exhibition highlights my last public commission and shows my new excitement for object or puppet-theater."

Museum hours are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and weekends from 2 to 5 p.m. For more information about gallery exhibits, visit www.stolaf.edu/depts/art/museum.

Contact Carole Engblom at 507-646-3271 or leigh@stolaf.edu.