Bluefield College is hosting an art exhibit, now through November 4, featuring the works of award-winning landscape artist Charlie Agnew.
Open and free to the public, the Agnew art show will be on display in BC’s Art Gallery on the first floor of Lansdell Hall, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
A 1995 summa cum laude graduate of Bluefield College, Agnew earned his master’s degree in fine arts from the University of Memphis before beginning a teaching career in art at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, and now Middle Georgia College in Cochran, Georgia.
At Middle Georgia College, Agnew teaches studio art, art history, and art survey. He is also the faculty advisor for Middle Georgia’s Student Art League and coordinator of the college’s International Festival. In addition, he is the director of the Peacock Gallery in Georgia.
Outside of the classroom, Agnew is a paint and sketch artist who incorporates nature into his works. Through drawings, paintings, photographs and topographical maps, he presents his perception of dense, textural qualities of the landscape. Using bark, leaves and pine needles, rather than brushes, Agnew builds rich and layered surfaces on canvas to emphasize how light illuminates textures and shapes in the natural environment.
“I am fascinated by the contrasts in light and shadow and how these visual elements change the appearance, texture, and shape of bark, leaves, and limbs,” said Agnew. “I draw and paint with analogous colors to amplify these visual features. Using actual forest materials in my work captures the sensation of the ‘feeling’ of the forest.”
Agnew’s works have appeared at the Contemporary Arts Exchange in Macon, Georgia; Gallery RFD in Swainsboro, Georgia; Macon Contemporary Arts Exchange in Macon, Georgia; Painted Planet in Memphis, Tennessee; Greater Memphis Arts Council in Memphis, Tennessee; Fayette County Cotton Festival in Somerville, Tennessee; South Main Arts Gallery in Memphis, Tennessee; and many other shows and galleries across the southeast.
His works have won awards at the Crittenden Arts Council Regional Art Show in West Memphis, Arkansas; the Casewell Council for the Arts Annual Artists Show in Yanceyville, North Carolina; and the Piedmont Art Association in Martinsville, Virginia.
For more information on this or other Bluefield College fine arts events, visit the BC web site at www.bluefield.edu/newsandevents, or email [email protected].