By KATE SNYDER

Community Arts Center

The Community Arts Center will feature artwork by two Centre College professors in November and December. The two exhibits will be housed on the second floor and run concurrently with the Holiday Market, which will occupy

the first floor.

“Growing Perspectives” is an exhibition of oil paintings by Matthew Klooster, assistant professor of Biology at Centre. His paintings reflect an intentional effort to interweave his agricultural roots with an attentiveness to the natural world, fostered by his experience as a scientist and researcher.

Klooster sees an intimate connection between science and artistic expression.

He says, “By intently studying a subject as a researcher, one comes to intimately know the finest details and intricacies. This insight makes it easier to see flaws and inaccuracies in painting because one understands the structure and form of the thing they are trying to recreate. It quickly bothers the eye when the true essence of a subject is misrepresented and understanding helps to right those wrongs.”

Although a long-time appreciator of the arts, Klooster began painting seriously eight years ago as a way to relax and “re-center” himself after stressful work days.

“I paint because it give me a sense of pride, offers peace and allows me to take lengthy moment to explore, in depth, subjects that inspire me,” says Klooster. “Our lives are so busy that we rarely take moments to pause and appreciate the beauty that is around us.  Painting requires that we take that time and, in many ways, I am indebted to the art form for forcing me to slow down and ‘paint’ the roses.”

Klooster hopes his work will elicit an emotional response in the viewer, drawing a connection between the uniquely personal narratives that each person composes and the subtle but ever-present beauty interspersed throughout daily life.

Milton Scarborough is professor emeritus of philosophy and religion at Centre. In his imaginative series of photographs, Scarborough creates visual puns that will amuse and delight viewers.

In discussing his work, Scarborough explains that a verbal pun is a “play on words.”

It takes advantage of the fact that words that sound alike (when spoken) or look alike (when written), nevertheless, have multiple meanings. When one meaning of a word is used in a context normally reserved for its other meaning, the results are surprising and often also humorous.

“A visual pun, one might say, is the interplay between a word or phrase, on the one hand, and a visual image (in this case a photograph), on the other,” says Scarborough. “Sometimes, the word or phrase is slightly modified, but its more familiar form is still recognizable. In the visual puns displayed in the exhibit, the photos call to mind a word or phrase but illustrate an alternative meaning of that word or phrase, one that is novel and sometimes funny.”

In the Visual Puns exhibit, the photos call to mind a word or phrase (and even a mathematical

formula) but illustrate an alternative meaning of that word or phrase, one that is novel and sometimes funny. The viewer’s “task” is to identify the word or phrase the photo illustrates. For example, an image of a pair of shoe soles might call up the term “solemates,” which, in turn, might call up the word “soulmates.”

“Growing Perspective” and “Visual Puns” will be on exhibit from Nov. 15-Dec. 22 on the second floor of the Community Arts Center. An opening reception will be 5:30-7:30 p.m. Nov. 16. Exhibit hours are 11` a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday.

Coming Up

• The Peaceable Kingdom by Edward Hicks: Connections Between Art and Literature, noon-1 p.m. Tuesday. Led by Dr. Milton Reigelman

• Dollhouse Camp (for Grown-Ups), 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Nov. 10 and 1-4 p.m. Nov. 11, open ages to 14+

• The Art and Archaeology of Angkor Wat, noon-1 p.m. Nov. 13, led by Drs. Robyn Cutright and Danielle La Londe

• Ceramic Nativity Workshop (Kings & Animals), 5-6:30 p.m. Nov. 13 and 27, ages 8+

• Lunch with the Arts – Lydia DiMartino-Ellis, noon-1 p.m. Nov. 14

• Holiday Ceramics Workshop, 10-11:30 a.m. Nov. 17 and Dec. 1