The Mehlman/Marian exhibit will remain on display in the Great River Gallery through April 4. The public is welcome to tour the art exhibitions at no charge during college hours.

The Great River Gallery is located on the second floor of the College Services building, next to the President's Office, and forms a gateway from the main building to the Fine Arts building.

A schedule of upcoming exhibits is being developed and will be available on the college Web site (www.AnokaRamsey.edu).

More about Marian
Anoka-Ramsey art faculty member Marko Marian received a Master of Fine Arts in Art from the University of Cincinnati, a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art from Western Michigan University and an Associate of Arts in Liberal Arts from Kalamazoo Valley Community College.

Of the work he will exhibit, Marian says:

"My recent paintings focus primarily on redrawing of the pictorial space within a framework of art history. For the past several years, I have been obsessed with the notion of painting as a map reflecting interpretations of our instantaneous experience, both physical and psychological. I believe that this prevalent practice of remapping has become the primary source of our understanding of the society today."

More about Mehlman
Anoka-Ramsey art faculty member Mehlman received her Master of Fine Arts from Claremont Graduate School in Painting and Installation Art. She works with divergent mediums including traditional paint materials, sculpture, and digital media, and leverages one medium with another to create a work that integrates live action and imagery. Mehlman also founded VIA/Visual Intelligence Artists to develop the technology and process for creating Artitorials, (Art + Editorial) or digital short stories in real time.

Of the work she will exhibit, Mehlman says:

"The narrative of the human face has been my focus recently. I have been working on a series of large portraits of people whom I have randomly encountered. I find myself reading the faces of people I do not know in the constant flow that flies across the television screen, that haunts the pages of printed media, and that bumps into us at the supermarket. For me, creating portraiture is a way of slowing down that steady stream and feeling more of a sense of belonging and understanding."

Coon Rapids Campus Art Initiative Committee
The Anoka-Ramsey Community College Coon Rapids Campus Art Initiative committee, co-sponsor of the reception with the Faculty Development committee, is comprised of faculty and staff volunteers charged with the campus' preserving and developing the campus' art collection. In addition, the art committee works to advance student, faculty, staff, and community appreciation for artwork through activities such as the annual Writing About Art: Firing the Imagination contest, which offers students the opportunity to write poetry, short stories, or essays about pieces selected from our permanent collection.

For more information about fine art offerings, including an Associate in Fine Arts degree, and events at Anoka-Ramsey Community College, visit www.AnokaRamsey.edu.