RELEASED: October 2, 2001

DANVILLE, KY – The Centre College Art Program will host an exhibit of oil paintings entitled Recent Paintings: Rick Bennett. Bennett's works will be displayed in the AEGON Gallery in the Jones Visual Arts Center on the Centre campus. The exhibit will be open from October 5-November 1. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the gallery will be open on October 13 as part of Centre's Homecoming Weekend activities. A reception for the artist will be held on Friday, October 12 from 4-6 p.m. in the AEGON Gallery. The reception is free and open to the public.

Sheldon Tapley, Professor and Chair of the Art Program comments, "It's really a pleasure to show the work of such an accomplished alumnus. Rick's paintings glow because of his talent with color and the richly worked surfaces. He is able to capture the light and texture of the landscape and present it in finely balanced and powerful compositions. I think the audience here will love this exhibition."

Rick Bennett's works have been exhibited in New York, California, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, North Dakota, North Carolina, Missouri, and Hang Zhou and Nanjing, China. Bennett's paintings and prints are included in nearly one hundred public and private collections. Bennett has received the Weisberg Award for Painting (2001) and an Individual Artist Grant from the Indiana Arts Commission (2000).

Bennett holds a B.A. in Art from Centre College and an M.F.A. from Indiana University and has taught drawing, painting, and printmaking.

Charles Swanson, co-owner of Swanson/Cralle Galleries in Louisville describes Bennett's work as "sensual personal meditations on the natural world. They combine influences of both East and West, active brush strokes and serenity, rich coloration and understatement."

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