Donald Forsythe collagraph from "Drawn from the Sea" exhibit Click on image to download print-quality version

GRANTHAM, Pa. (Nov. 9, 2007) — The artwork of Messiah College Distinguished Professor of Art Donald J. Forsythe, printed on plates washed up from the Irish sea, will be on display from Nov. 30–Feb. 3 in the Aughinbaugh Art Gallery, located in the Climenhaga Fine Arts Center on the college’s Grantham campus. “Drawn from the Sea: The Ballinglen Collagraphs” is free and open to the public for viewing during normal gallery hours. A reception and artist’s talk will be held in the gallery from 6–8 p.m. on Jan. 18. The reception is free and open to the public.

About “Drawn from the Sea”

Forsythe, an international fellow of the Ballinglen Art Foundation in Ballycastle, Ireland, found unlikely inspiration for his unique printmaking skills while there on sabbatical leave, fall of 2006. “I had been printing sea kelp and driftwood that I picked up on the beach,” he explains. On one of these beach visits, he found what had been a metal whisky container, marked by sand and sea water. From it he made seascape and landscape prints, and a series of Irish crosses, a selection of which makes up his “Drawn from the Sea” display.

“When I think about showing an entire gallery of work printed from a Powers Irish Whiskey container,” Forsythe reflects, “it seems overly simplistic at first… but by using the most simplistic, cast-off item to make this work, I am hoping that others perceive that very much can come from examining the littlest thing.”

About Aughinbaugh Art Gallery

Located on the lower level of the Climenhaga Fine Arts Center on Messiah College’s Grantham campus, the M. Louise Aughinbaugh Art Gallery exhibits the work of internationally recognized artists from around the world, as well as faculty and students. Gallery programming supplements campus classroom instruction by bringing practicing artists to campus to demonstrate techniques in classes and by organizing special evening lectures and afternoon gallery talks. The gallery also functions as a hands-on teaching laboratory for students in the college’s course on museum studies. Aughinbaugh Art Gallery is open Mondays through Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; on Fridays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and on Saturdays and Sundays from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

About Messiah College

Messiah College, a private Christian college of the liberal and applied arts and sciences, enrolls 2,800 undergraduate students in 55 majors. Established in 1909, the primary campus is located in Grantham, Pa., near the state capital of Harrisburg. A satellite campus affiliated with Temple University is located in Philadelphia.