Jan. 22-Feb. 15-Between Here and There

Art Gallery at the University Center
Between Here and There, Mary Hertert and Nancy Dobson January 22 – February 15, 2013 Monday through Saturday, 12:00 to 4:00 pm University Center, Colorado Mesa University Opening Reception: 6:00 – 8:00 pm, Friday, January 25 FREE AND OPEN TO PUBLIC

The Colorado Mesa University Art Gallery opens its series of spring semester shows with Between Here and There, a dialogue in fiber between artists Mary Hertert and Nancy Dobson. Hertert and Dobson have been friends and collaborators since meeting in Anchorage in the 1990’s, and both have now put down roots in the Grand Valley. Between Here and There is about opposites and similarities, about artists who feel strongly about both Anchorage and Grand Junction, but interpret those feelings differently.

Hertert chooses the organic, the serendipity that results in random pouring, stitching and spontaneous moments. She constantly searches for the mood of a piece, striving to bring the viewer into the fabric and the fabric’s colors and then finally into the core itself. She wants you to feel the illusion of
rock- its solidity, its warmth and its dimensions- or draw you into the colors of the night sky. Hertert is active in the Art Quilters Association (AQuA) and was State Representative for the Surface Design Association (SDA) in Alaska and Assistant Rep. in Colorado. She is also an active member of the Silk Painters International (SPIN) as well as a member of the local Art Center and Student Art League. She teaches Fibers at Colorado Mesa University and has participated in a wide variety of community programs, from KAFM Radio, to Mesa Development, to hosting teaching and dyeing projects at Color Creek Fiber Art. Hertert has won awards from the Alaska Fiber Festival and the Anchorage Museum’s Earth Fire and Fiber, a statewide annual juried show of select visual artists. Her work hangs in both the Children’s Hospital and the Cancer Center at Providence Hospital in Anchorage, AK. She also dyes costumes and fabrics for theater and dance companies.

Dobson brings order to her colors. Her stitches capture the fleeting light in the Alaskan landscape and the deep secrets of the copper red rock. She blends thought, purpose and continuity to the places she loves while working in a mixed media environment of quilting, painting, and dye work to bring the environments alive. Photos taken from the back of a two-seat plane piloted by her husband in Alaska are the inception for much of her work. Dobson is active in the Surface Design Association (SDA) and Art Quilters Association (AQuA), and has received various awards throughout the years; the most recent being Best in Show for the Fiber Arts Exhibit at Infinity Gallery, an international online gallery. Her work has also been included in several publications; Alaska Home Magazine (featured artist), Create Your Own Stress Free Quilts, by Rayna Gilman, Quilter’s Digest, Grand Junction Sentinel and several others. Dobson also has work displayed in the Elmendorf Air Force Base Hospital, Anchorage.

There will be a public reception to view the exhibit and meet the artists on Friday, January 25 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The Art Gallery is located in the University Center at Colorado Mesa University, Grand Junction, CO. Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday, 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and admission is free.
Parking is available at the University Center Parking Garage. For more information, call the Art Department at (970) 248-1833.