About 150 people crowded Piedmont Arts for the opening reception of the museum’s latest exhibits on March 29. They attentively followed the talk of art experts describing the 44 etchings that Spanish Surrealist artist Salvador Dali created in Paris in 1934.
The exhibition presents the unique proof set for the complete series of etchings that make up the first edition of “Les Chants de Maldoror,” the infamous 1869 prose poem by Isidore Ducasse. It was curated by Dr. Michael R. Taylor, chief curator and deputy director for art and education of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, who spoke at the event, along with Dr. Elliot King, Dali expert and associate professor of art history at Washington & Lee University.
Also on exhibit, “Citizens and Soldiers: The Mostly World War II Paintings” by Ken Smith depict action on the frontlines. The paintings were created for the Advanced Squad Leader board game, originally reproduced on game boxes, magazines and folders. The exhibit contains 15 paintings spanning the era of 1939 (“Kollaa Holds”) to 1950 (“Frozen”). Smith is an associate professor of graphic design at Radford University.
“Lintspiration” in the Lynwood Artists Gallery features Meritha Alderman’s unique signature medium: dryer lint. One of her first lint art portraits, coincidentally, was of Salvador Dali, along with another of Audrey Hepburn, which she showed in Piedmont Arts’ “Expressions” exhibit in 2014. Alderman, who has a bachelor’s degree in studio art and communications and a master’s degree in art education, is an art teacher at Laurel Park Middle School.
The three exhibits will be on display through May 11. Piedmont Arts, at 215 Starling Ave., Martinsville, is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, and admission is free.
