The NOCCA Institute hosts first gallery exhibition of the 2009-10 season

The NOCCA Institute hosts first gallery exhibition of the 2009-10 season

“On the Edge” gallery series kicks off the 2009-10 season with an exhibition by visiting artists

October 8 – November 27, 2009 * Opening reception: October 8, 6pm – 8pm

The NOCCA Institute is proud to announce the 2009 Visiting Artist I Exhibition. The opening reception for this show will be Thursday, October 8, 2009, from 6pm to 8pm, and the exhibition continues through November 27, 2009. The exhibition will feature two- and three-dimensional work in a variety of media by Thomas Mann, Wallace Merritt, Gary Oaks, and David Sullivan. Both the exhibition and the opening reception will take place in the Ken Kirschman Artspace on NOCCA’s campus at 2800 Chartres Street in New Orleans. Gallery hours are Mondays through Fridays, 12pm to 6 pm, and Saturdays, 12pm to 3 pm. Admission is free.

BIOS

Thomas Mann
A professional artist for over 40 years, Thomas Mann is best known for his “techno-romantic” jewelry which juxtaposes technological references, forms and construction techniques with romantic imagery. Originally from Pennsylvania, the artist exhibited his work at Jazz Fest in 1977 and has called New Orleans home ever since. Over the last few years, he has moved away from his signature techno-romantic design vocabulary toward jewelry designs that are models for large-scale sculpture. These days, he attends as many as 15 nationally juried craft and art festivals each year, in addition to overseeing a jewelry studio and gallery. He has also expanded his role as veteran professional artist to include a focus on education by teaching hands-on jewelry making workshops as well as entrepreneurial thinking to artists of all media. As a result of teaching workshops, Tom’s latest entrepreneurial endeavor was launching a line of DIY jewelry making kits and supplies at the 2009 Craft & Hobby Association Trade Show in Anaheim, CA.

Wallace Merritt
An Alabama native with a degree in Urban Studies, Merritt moved to New Orleans and studied at A School for Fine Photography. His photographic concentration changed from architecture to the human form. He spent six months in France and Ireland working with a large format camera. The palladium prints from this European experience were landscapes with a narrative quality. From 1995-2000 he was an instructor at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts. Today he lives in the Marigny neighborhood and concentrates on portraiture. The intimacy of his secluded courtyard allows him the freedom to create disguises, digressions, or alternate personas.

Gary Oaks
Gary Oaks was born around the middle of the previous century in Knoxville, Tennessee. After a stint in the U.S. Marine Corps, he earned a BA in Liberal Arts at the University of Tennessee. He moved to New Orleans in 1982, and earned an MFA at LSU, specializing in glass and drawing. He is currently on the Fine Arts faculty at Southern University at New Orleans where he has taught for eighteen years. He lives in Mid-City with his wife, Mary Jane Parker, and their seven cats.

David Sullivan
David Sullivan has been creating various types of artwork with computers since they were able to keep up with his ideas. Originally, he was a painter, and is interested in how analog and digital processes can assist each other. He has shown his prints, programs and animations in the USA, Austria, Brazil, and the Antarctic. He is currently a studio resident at LA Artworks and a professor at Loyola University.