Public Reception Celebrates Opening of 3 Exhibits

Erie, PA, July 12, 2006 --(PR.com)-- The Erie Art Museum, 411 State Street, will celebrate the opening of three exhibits Friday, July 14 from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. with a free public reception. The exhibits include a 19th Century French Art exhibit titled “Charting a Century of Change” in the Main Floor Gallery, “David Hayes: Small Sculptures and Studies” in the Frame Shop Gallery and “Carol Cornelison: A Return to Nature" in the Annex Gallery.

The Diamond Collection of French nineteenth-century drawings and sculpture encompasses a range of works by artists both well known and obscure. The collection includes drawings by such notables as Degas, Corot, Ingres, Cezanne, Delacroix, Gericault and Rousseau, as well as sculpture by Rodin. The works themselves range from traditional to vanguard, exhibiting a variety of styles and techniques.

Hayes' work is as powerful in a gallery setting as it is outdoors. The strong formal elements of the sculptures, including their shapes, colors, and planes, mold the space around them in a harmonious way, whether indoors or outdoors. The work captivates and compels the viewer to walk around it and take in each individual element.

Carol Cornelison’s sculptural assemblages of human, animal and vegetable parts cast in bronze express spiritual states of being. The overarching theme of her sculpture is the transformation women experience by way of reproduction and self-realization. Her powerful and earthy figures reveal that transformation is often a struggle, but it is also a natural, normal, and on-going process.

The Friday reception is free and open to the public. For more information on these exhibits contact the Erie Art Museum at 459-5477 or visit www.erieartmuseum.org.

###