Art on display created by faculty member Paul Van Zandt in 2022. PN Photo/Abigail Chabala.
By Abigail Chabala
The UNCP Art Department Faculty Art Exhibition was put on view Aug. 17 and will be on view until Sept. 22.
UNCP converted a faculty lounge into an art gallery in the 1970s. The Art Department had a grand opening of the A.D. Gallery in 2005 and now provides a place for art shows and exhibits to be on display for students, faculty and the community.
The A.D. Gallery is located on campus in Locklear Hall and allows students easy access within walking distance of any building on campus.
The A.D. Gallery’s mission statement is all about promoting students’ abilities that allow them to actively engage, see and consider visual culture. With the A.D. Gallery, it opens opportunities to “nurture and support a quality liberal arts education.”
The A.D. Gallery has many different shows over each semester. The next exhibitions are Sept. 28 to Oct. 21, Oct. 27 to Nov. 10 and Nov. 16 to Dec. 2.
“Typically, the art stays in the gallery a month for the feature exhibitions, and two weeks for some of the shorter student shows,” said A.D. Gallery director, Joseph Begnaud.
The A.D. Gallery provides art not only to students and faculty, but to the public as well. The A.D. Gallery is a quiet place and a place where people can escape their everyday lives.
UNCP Alumnus Art major, Nickalos Golden said that his favorite thing about the gallery is the quietness and stillness of it all and how it is a place where you can simply just come and experience art.
“The A.D. Gallery is a place where people can catch a break from reality,” Golden said.
A.D. Gallery director Joseph Begnaud said that many of the students have never been to an art museum, or a professional art gallery. Begnaud said that the gallery may be the first opportunity for students to see art made by professional artists, and for the students that work in the gallery, they gain real-world professional skill in curatorial practices. It is important that there is an art gallery on UNCP’s campus because it can provide a quiet place, unlike anywhere else on campus, to let go of anxiety and stress by looking at the art.
“For everyone, we provide convenient access to rotating shows of local, national and international art. Not so anecdotally, it’s also a great space to hang out in or to just release some anxiety looking at things. Studies have shown looking at art can improve both mental and physical health,” Begnaud said.
The A.D. Gallery’s hours are Monday through Friday from 9a.m. to 6p.m.. The show that is on view in the A.D. The reception is Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. The A.D. Gallery is free and open to the public.