Homecoming exhibition showcases alumni art

During Elmhurst College's Homecoming and Reunion Weekend, the college will host the 11th annual Alumni Art Exhibition in the Barbara A. Kieft Accelerator ArtSpace.

The exhibition features new works by more than 25 Department of Art alumni. Generations of art graduates display work in all media, including installation, graphic design, photography, sculpture, ceramics, drawing and painting.

The opening reception for the exhibition will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, in the Accelerator ArtSpace, 200 W. Park Ave., Elmhurst.

The reception will be shared with alumni from the college's Physics Department, which will celebrate the 42nd "birthday" of the college's Kevatron particle accelerator, located in the Accelerator ArtSpace.

The reception and exhibition are free.

The Alumni Art Exhibition will run Saturday, Oct. 10, until Saturday, Oct. 24. The Accelerator ArtSpace gallery is open noon to 4 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

"This yearly exhibition is very important to us in the art department because it gives us an opportunity to reconnect with our graduates and offers them an opportunity to showcase their most recent work," said Suellen Rocca, Elmhurst College exhibitions director.

Opened as a gallery in 2004, the Barbara A. Kieft Accelerator ArtSpace is a one-of-a-kind gallery. It regularly displays professional and student artwork within a historic lab that houses a 750,000-volt proton accelerator.

This "atom smasher" was used during the early days of atomic weapons research at the University of Chicago. The equipment was moved to Elmhurst College in 1969 and reconstructed over a period of four years. The accelerator was used by Elmhurst physics students for a number of years before the space became an art gallery.

The Alumni Art Exhibition is one of about a dozen art shows Elmhurst College hosts each academic year in two campus venues. In addition to the ArtSpace, the college's A.C. Buehler Library permanently houses the college's collection of Chicago imagist and abstractionist art.

For information, contact Suellen Rocca at (630) 617-6110 or srocca@elmhurst.edu.