Art gallery at FVCC presents Marvin Messing exhibition
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KALISPELL — The Wachholz College Center’s Wanda Hollensteiner Art Gallery on the campus of Flathead Valley Community College announces their new fall exhibition of works by former FVCC painting instructor and surrealist painter, Marvin Messing (1922-2015). The show will feature a selection of his oil paintings, sculptures and intaglio prints that will debut Wednesday, Sept. 25, with an opening reception from 5-7pm. The event is free and open to the public.
Messing was born in Freeport, Illinois and attended college at the Art Institute of Chicago on a Guggenheim Scholarship. His time there was interrupted by World War II, in which he enlisted and served in the Navy. In the 1960s, Messing became actively involved in the Civil Rights Movement which ended up being one of the most prolific periods of his artistic career. Messing taught portraiture and oil painting at FVCC for 11 years before retiring.
Messing’s artistic influences were drawn from Salvador Dali and Francisco de Goya. He believed that artists had a duty to inform and evoke deep thought about the human condition and he explored these themes throughout his oil painting, sculpture, and printmaking. Toward the end of his career, he described his style as “contemplative art” and often stated “what I am attempting to say is not as important as the viewer’s response.”
Everyone is invited to attend the exhibition opening reception in the Wachholz College Center’s Wanda Hollensteiner Art Gallery on Wednesday, Sept. 25, from 5-7 p.m. Following the opening event, the exhibition will be available for viewing to the public through November 3. The gallery is open Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 12-4 p.m. as well as during WCC showtimes for patrons with tickets to WCC performances.
To stay up to date on the current art featured in the Wanda Hollensteiner Art Gallery and to find information about the Wachholz College Center, visit: wccmt.org and follow WCC on Facebook and Instagram.
