As a part of Homecoming Week, the upcoming Alumni Exhibition will include works as well as a lecture from the local alumnus Georgia Polkey. 

Polkey received her BA in Visual Arts with a concentration in drawing and painting from the university where she went on to get her Masters of Fine Art by attending the University of Connecticut. 

Since Polkey’s recent move closer to the university, she was able to be brought on staff as a part-time professor and work closely with students. 

Dale Newkirk, Department Head of Fine and Performing Arts, stresses the importance of holding an exhibition each year featuring an alumnus. 

“Inviting one alumni in a year to do a show and share a lecture discussing their transition from the university to graduate school and then professionally so students can get an idea of what that is like and options they might have for the future,” said Newkirk.

Since this exhibition will be held during Homecoming Week, the Alumni Association decided to showcase Polkey because she is well known in the art department and has much success professionally. 

With their efforts to plan events in every department on campus during Homecoming Week, Polkey was chosen for this date to be tied to Homecoming festivities. This event will further the experience of Homecoming to the art department. 

Not only is this exhibition during Homecoming Week, but it is also during Fanfare. This is a month long celebration where different types of artists or performers showcase their work for audiences of all ages to see. Polkey has the opportunity to share her thoughts on the progression of her career at her exhibition with a lunchtime lecture in the Contemporary Art Gallery. 

“During Fanfare, we have always had this tradition of lunchtime lectures for over 16 years,” said Newkirk. 

In regards to Polkey’s work, she creates pieces that use mixed-media and abstract thoughts. She will be painting on the drywall in the CAG and it will be brought down at the end of the show. She is creating a temporary installation of her work on a big scale.

The evolution of the artist’s work will be exhibited in this display for the exhibition.

“It’s interesting to me how much it’s changed since she was here and how much it hasn’t,” said Newkirk. “Her paintings used to be figurative and somewhat narrative, now they are more nonrepresentational. What hasn’t changed is her touch and sensibility with how she uses color, shapes and brush marks. I like this shift in scale to these large paintings as installations pieces as opposed to small scale like a canvas.”

Polkey’s lecture will be on Oct. 22 at noon in the Contemporary Art Gallery and a reception will follow. The free exhibition will run from Oct. 22 to Nov. 10 and is open to the public.