New exhibit opens in University Gallery Oct. 23

"Dormant Thoughts," a sculptural installation by artist Jan-Ru Wan, will open in the University Gallery at Pittsburg State University on Oct. 23 and will run through Nov. 27. To open the exhibit, the artist will deliver a public lecture at 10 a.m. on Oct. 23, in Porter Hall. Visitors may meet the artist at a public breakfast reception from 9-10 a.m., also in Porter Hall.

Wan, who makes her home in Chapel Hill, N.C., says her early education was influenced by Taoism and Buddhism. That influence can be seen in the way her art explores the concepts of the ways in which human bodies, born in nature, become constructed by culture.

Stephanie Bowman, PSU's gallery director, said Wan's "intimate, gentle installation spaces become an inviting place to explore how the body is contained by space and then how the body is also projected into every space it moves through."

Wan describes her work as, "harshness vs. softness, tension vs. freedom, free floating vs. measuring and compulsive energy vs. imperturbable silence."

The University Gallery, located in Porter Hall on the PSU campus, is open from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. There is no admission charge. For more information, contact Stephanie Bowman at 620-235-4305, sbowman@pittstate.edu, or visit the gallery Web site at www.pittstate.edu/art.

---Pitt State---