Diverse collection of art on exhibit at MCC
In honor of McHenry County College's 50th Anniversary, selected works from the MCC Permanent Art Collection will be exhibited through Dec. 8 in Gallery One, in the library in Building A.
Another exhibit features an MCC Alumni Series, showcasing paintings from Sharon Settles through Dec. 6 in the Epping Gallery, in the bookstore hallway in Building B.
The MCC Permanent Art Collection includes works that have been donated to the college or the Friends of MCC Foundation or purchased from artists exhibiting in the MCC Art Galleries, local and national galleries, MCC art faculty and current/former students. The collection is installed throughout the college and features a diverse selection of pieces that include a wide range of media, styles and content in contemporary art practice.
"The art collection serves as an accessible visual resource for studio and art history students to examine and critique while also providing an energized visual atmosphere on campus," said MCC art gallery curator Sandra Lang.
The MCC Permanent Art Collection also includes the separate Portrait in Print Collection, a gift to the Friends of MCC Foundation from Mary and Charles Liebman. This outstanding collection of more than 250 fine art prints includes examples of intaglio, lithography, woodcut and serigraphy and offers, through the portrait, a glimpse of history through a variety of significant historical figures who left an imprint on our culture and world. Renowned artists such as Andy Warhol, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall are among the artists whose prints are included in the collection. The Portrait in Print Collection is exhibited in the MCC Library.
The MCC Alumni Series exhibit features oil paintings by Sharon Settles, who earned her Associate in Fine Art degree in 2005 and continued her exploration of painting and printmaking at the Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus. Her work has been accepted eight times from 2000-2017 in Women's Works, a nationally acclaimed juried show, and she received the Roger W. Muterspaugh Award at this show in 2000 and second place in 2011. Her work was also exhibited at Lakeside Legacy Gallery in Crystal Lake, the Sage Gallery and as part of the group S! XX, she has participated in group shows at the Old Courthouse Gallery in Woodstock, and in Palatine and at the Elgin Art Center. She also was among the artists who painted the "Pathways to History" mural project at MCC in 2006 and the "diversity" mural at the McHenry County Government Center.
For more information about McHenry County College's art galleries, contact Sandra Lang, gallery curator, at (815) 455-8785 or at slang@mchenry.edu.