Bruce White Sculptor

New APSU Exhibit Pays Tribute to Sculptor Bruce White

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- In the art world, Chicago is a city internationally known for its contemporary public sculptures. Daring and original works are scattered throughout the Second City, decorating parks, galleries and the courtyards to civic institutions.

The renowned sculptor Bruce White is responsible for a couple of those well-known pieces, and for almost 30 years, he trained some of the country's top sculptors at nearby Northern Illinois University, where he worked as a professor of art. Gregg Schlanger, interim chair of the Austin Peay State University Department of Art, was one of those students, and next month, APSU and the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts will host an exhibition in tribute to White.

The Bruce White School of Sculpture exhibit opens with a reception from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 8 in APSU's Trahern Gallery. The show runs through Nov. 24, and will include works by White and 24 of his former students.

Twelve of those students will participate in a gallery talk during the exhibit's opening on Nov. 8, and seven large-scale outdoor works will be displayed on the APSU campus throughout August 2011.

White has an extensive exhibition record and has created more than 30 large-scale public sculpture commissions around the world. He was a professor at NIU from 1967 to 1996, and he currently maintains a sculpture studio in DeKalb, Ill. His preferred materials are stainless steel and aluminum, although he has created works in bronze and granite, which he said are essentially materials which lend themselves to permanence.?

The artists, and former White students, who will present pieces as part of this exhibit include Schlanger, Andrew Arvanetes, Jack Balas, Michael Bennett, Joel Graesser, Mike Helbing, Jill King, John Kobald, David Lepo, Rob Lorenson, Paula Martinez, Bruce A. Niemi, Chris Nitsche, Richard Peglow, Jason Peot, Bobby Joe Scribner, Tim Scofield, Lee Sido, Rex Silvernail, Tom Skomski, Tom Stancliffe, Scott Wallace, Liz Wolf and Charles Yost.

For more information, contact the APSU Department of Art at 221-7333.