April 6, 2007

LIVINGSTON, Ala.—Leading up to the Sucarnochee Folklife Festival, The University of West Alabama welcomes artist Matthew Chase-Daniel as he creates a sculpture on the UWA campus from natural materials found around the region. He will present a lecture about his installation at a brown bag luncheon Wednesday, April 18 at noon at the Calloway Schoolhouse, and he will be a featured artist at the April 21 festival in Livingston.

Chase-Daniel, who will be on campus from April 15-21, is one of five artists whose work will be displayed in the UWA Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition 5. The exhibition, a continuing showcase of outdoor sculpture by contemporary artists, will remain for approximately 24 months, with new work arriving every two years. In conjunction with the exhibition, UWA will also display works from the permanent collection. The sculptures are placed at sites throughout UWA’s campus, allowing students, faculty and visitors casual enjoyment.

“As with each exhibition in the past, we hope to expand the viewer’s knowledge and appreciation of contemporary art,” said assistant art professor Nick Davis, director of the exhibition. “For this exhibition, we have sculptors bringing work from all parts of the country. They come from as far away as Maine and New Mexico, but as close to home as Tuscaloosa.

 “This particular group of sculptors will provide for an exciting exhibit,” Davis said. “Each works in a wide variety of materials, from the traditional stone, wood and steel to the more experimental plastic, glass and found objects. It will be interesting to see which natural materials native to the Black Belt Matthew Chase-Daniel chooses to use in his piece.” 

A sculptor and photographer, Chase-Daniel currently lives and works in Santa Fe, N.M. He attended Sarah Lawrence College, in Bronxville, N.Y., where he received a bachelor’s degree in art and anthropology in 1988. He served as an Artist-in-Residence at the Musée Adzak in Paris from 1988 to 1989. This year, he has participated in shows at MIAD in Venado Tuerto, Argentina and at Lyceum in San Diego. Currently, his work can be seen at Natuurkunst Drenthe, Schoonoord, Netherlands, where he completed a residency over the summer of 2006.

The brown bag lunch, sponsored by UWA’s Department of Fine Arts and the Center for the Study of the Black Belt, is being held in conjunction with the Sucarnochee Folklife Festival. The festival, a celebration of Black Belt regional culture, takes place Saturday, April 21 in downtown Livingston and includes the Sucarnochee 5K River Run, Cornbread Cook-off, folk artists, musicians, storytellers, walking ghost tour and more. For more information about Matthew Chase-Daniel’s sculpture and lecture or the Sucarnochee Folklife Festival, please call 205-652-3752.