‘Instrucciones,’ oil over collage on panel by Paula Swisher
Paintings and mixed media by Paula Swisher, a graphic/web designer-illustrator from Philadelphia, Pa., is on display March 14-April 4 in the public art gallery in Hartzler Library.
An opening reception for the artist will be held 4 p.m. Saturday, Mar. 14 in the gallery on third floor of EMU’s Hartzler Library.
Swisher currently does contract work for advertising agencies and companies and freelance projects, including corporate design and digital photography and print pieces.
Earlier, she was assistant professor of art at Mercer County Community College, West Windsor, N.J., 2003-07, and art lecturer at Clemson University and Greenville Technical College. From 2005 to 2007 she collaborated with co-faculty and students in the creation of a multimedia art exhibit/installation, “The Garden State Project,” examining the identity/identities of New Jersey.
Of her recent work, the artist states, “I’m exploring postmodern approaches to ontological concerns of human struggle and endeavor. Through fragmentation, reconstruction and the use of scientific and technical imagery, I am examining our attempts at navigating, overcoming and making sense of our experiences. In this way, scientific imagery becomes a metaphor – images of arranging, probing beneath, taking apart and reassembling represent our investigating, organizing and interpreting human experience.”
Multiple panels, segments and layers often play a role in Swisher’s work. Stitching, tying, separating and reassembling act as metaphors of the process of reconstructing disparate and contradictory experiences into new narratives or interpretations.
“Most likely, it is the act of reconstructing that allows us, for the time being, to struggle, navigate and overcome,” she states.
Swisher earned a BA degree in art from Houghton (NY) College and an MFA degree in painting from Clemson University.
EMU’s art gallery is open during regular library hours daily free of charge.
Library hours:
- Mon.-Thur. 7:45 a.m.-12 midnight
- Fri. 7:45 a.m.-6 p.m.
- Sat. 12 noon-6 p.m.
- Sun. 2 p.m.-12 midnight