|
|
| |
 |
| |
The Vibrant Art of Parmer Hall
John C. and Carolyn J. Parmer Hall features more than just state-of-the-art classrooms and laboratories. The new building also hosts a wide variety of contemporary artwork, culled from the store of pieces Dominican University has acquired over the years. That collection is in the midst of a lengthy cataloging process undertaken by student interns under the supervision of Kim Theriault, assistant professor of art history. Students, staff members and art department faculty participated on a committee to select the pieces for Parrmer Hall. While several were donated to the university by generous benefactors, others were created by Dominican students and staff.
 In keeping with the university’s Catholic tradition, a religious mosaic greets visitors to Parmer’s south-wing entrance. The work is built out of colorful fragments of varying shapes, depicting Christ with a group of followers. The mosaic was produced by Sr. Guala O’Connor, OP (deceased professor of art), with assistance from Sr. Milla Derby, OP ’49 (who also taught art). The foyer of Albertus Magnus Hall, the old science building, is adorned with a wall-sized mosaic of creation by the same artist, so the placement of this smaller piece creates a historical echo, connecting Parmer with its predecessor.
 On the lower level of Parmer Hall, a busy hallway is embellished with art of a more abstract nature. Evoking the expressionist works of the early 1960s, a large blue, gray, white and black piece by Richard Alexander bursts with energy. The university previously displayed the piece in the Cyber Café of the Rebecca Crown Library. It was donated to the university by Beatrice “Buddy” Mayer, a longtime friend of the school, in 1976 in memory of her husband, Robert B. Mayer.
 Student artwork also is represented in the building, including scenes of the botany department greenhouse (attached to the old science building) painted by Emilia Gryc ’05. Now located on the third floor of Parmer Hall next to the general chemistry laboratory, the paintings—one portraying a daylight view of the garden; the other, a nighttime view—serve as subtle reminders of the department’s history.
 Well-known Chicago-area artists also are represented throughout Parmer Hall. An avant-garde series by Chicago-born artist and peace activist Matt Lamb, whose work is also featured in the Priory Auditorium, graces the walls of Parmer’s fourth floor. The twelve matching panels feature an unorthodox combination of materials, including glue, sand, paint and oil, to form unique, mustard-colored creations that bring to mind the atmosphere of a gaseous planet.
 Near the entrance to Parmer Hall is a whimsical painting of six nearly identical waiters, the work of the late Seymour Rosofsky, an Illinois artist who exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Art Institute of Chicago. The piece depicts the waiters holding trays; a great dining table is set behind them. Located, as it is, near the Christopher Nutrition Sciences Center and Shaffer Silveri Atrium, which hosts countless catered university events, the painting seems to comment on the circus-like energy of food service.
The walls of the atrium have already become an ad hoc gallery, featuring, for example, a touring display of photography from Sicily. Exhibits of student work are scheduled for spring. Earlier this year, the building also hosted a traveling exhibit of embroidered panels created by a collective of women from villages outside Johannesburg, South Africa.
The art of Parmer Hall provides just a glimpse into Dominican’s collection. The works mark the social spaces of the building and maintain an open-ended sense of artistic inquiry in a building largely dedicated to science. They nurture culture and curiosity. They surprise. The artwork reflects an ever-evolving Dominican University community, while underscoring its healthy embrace of pieces from the past.
|
|
|
