Pryor Art Gallery Announces “Light. Beyond The Bulb.” Exhibit

COLUMBIA, Tenn. – Columbia State Community College’s Pryor Art Gallery hosts the “Light. Beyond The Bulb.” exhibit Aug. 17-Sept. 22.

An artists’ reception will be held 5-8 p.m. Sept. 7 in the Pryor Art Gallery and will host NASA’s Kim Arcand, Chandra Visualization Program lead and author. Arcand will speak at 5:30 p.m. in the Cherry Theater in the Waymon L. Hickman Building, located across from the Pryor Art Gallery. She will bring light into focus and will talk about the topics of several of her books regarding the colorization of photography (of the universe) interpreted and digitally sent by the Chandra Telescope Satellite.

Light is explored from the most micro slide of a creature’s retina to the most macro celestial body in this exhibit of photographs taken by scientists and photographers from around the world. The science of light meets the world of art, its applications in daily life and even NASA’s Chandra Telescopic Satellite, which can see and photograph the light images from outside the universe.

Thirty colorful exhibit panels, created and supplied by NASA’s Chandra Satellite Telescope mission, will be featured to celebrate the United Nation’s initiative, the “International Year of Light, 2015.” This exhibit has traveled the world.

The exhibit will also have a special interest learning station that will include information about the Solar Eclipse, which happens on Aug. 21. Eye protectors will be given to the first 140 visitors of the exhibit so they can safely watch the solar event.

In addition, Pryor Art Gallery will feature local Tennessee artists John Wilkison, Barry Donaldson, Craig Lackey, Marian Gizzi-Haynes and Coco Dauer exhibit their artistic visual interpretations of light to delight in oil, acrylic, watercolor and other mediums. Columbia Neon Company contributes their expertise in the creation of neon lighting and signage; they have provided a hands-on learning station that will demonstrate the process of creating the spectrum of neon light colors and LED lighting of today, and a crystal prism learning station that displays the rainbow of colors a single beam of light produces, the same colors on the color wheel used by artists.

The artists’ reception is on Sept. 7 in the Pryor Art Gallery and will host NASA’s own Kim Arcand, Chandra Visualization Program Lead and prolific author. The Pryor Art Gallery is in the Waymon L. Hickman Building on the Columbia Campus. The exhibit is free and open to the public 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

For additional information, contact Michele Wilkinson at 931-540-2883, or by email at mwilkinson2@ColumbiaState.edu, or visit www.ColumbiaState.edu/PryorGallery.

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