The University of Maine at Presque Isle’s Reed Fine Art Gallery will present the exhibition Landscape – Love & Longing from September 11 through October 22, bringing to Maine the work of artist Jennifer Pazienza, Professor of Art Education at the University of New Brunswick. The public is invited to attend the exhibition’s opening reception, to be held on Sunday, Sept. 11 from 2-4 p.m.
In the artist’s statement that appears on her website, Pazienza says, “For me, beauty compels replication. Beauty is the means by which we renew our search for truth and our regard for that which is life giving. In its presence I am made to stop, to slow down, and to look deeply. My mantra derives from my childhood, that the beautiful is not merely something observed, but something practiced. As an artist and educator my work attempts to recreate the call and response of the beautiful for myself and for others.”
Pazienza attended the William Patterson College of New Jersey to attain her Bachelor of Education in Art. She earned her Master’s degree in Art Education and Ph.D. in Philosophy from Pennsylvania State University. She taught at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, and the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, before coming to the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton.
Pazienza has been a member of state, provincial, national and international arts committees and juries in the U.S. and Canada. She has served as a consultant for the Getty Centre for Arts in Education and the Department of Education for the Royal Kingdom of Bhutan. Her artwork has been exhibited in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, Maine and New Brunswick. She has work in corporate and private collections, including in Fredericton, Saint John, Toronto, Maine and Italy.
Pazienza’s work Summer 2006 and Winter 2007 appear in Canadian Art/Works: A Resource for Primary, Junior, Intermediate and Senior Teachers. Career highlights include the completion of two commissions for Azienda Agricola Alcala in Sicily; a large ceramic tile installation made with local artisans and a mural celebrating agriculture and the ceramic tradition of majolica tile painting.
“You can escape into these landscapes and remove yourself from our demanding, connected world, to breathe in some fresh air and become enveloped in a season,” Reed Art Gallery Director Sandra Huck said of Pazienza’s work. “We invite the viewer to come, pause, and be restored by the transcendent beauty of these luminous landscapes.”
The opening reception for Pazienza’s exhibition will be held in the Reed Fine Art Gallery on Sunday, Sept. 11 from 2-4 p.m. The public is invited to attend. There is no charge and light refreshments will be served.
The Reed Fine Art Gallery is open Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The gallery is closed Sundays and university holidays. For more information about this event, please contact Huck at 768-9611. To learn more about Pazienza, visit www.jenniferpazienza.com.