Al Sheets, 2024 USI Efroymson Bridge Year Fellow, presents 'Chatter' alongside 'Tangled Threads'

The University of Southern Indiana Kenneth P. McCutchan Art Center/Palmina F. and Stephen S. Pace Galleries is pleased to present Chatter by Al Sheets '23, 2024 Efroymson Bridge Year Fellow, and Tangled Threads, from the University's permanent collection.

Sheets is a skilled and prolific draftsperson whose colorful and mordant illustrations are whimsical, opinionated, self-deprecating, ridiculous and fascinating all at once. The exhibition incorporates their sketches, hand-pulled prints and digital illustrations with immediately recognizable stylistic unity.

The Efroymson Bridge Year Fellowship is a competitive award program that provides a highly motivated and talented studio art, photography or design graduate of the University of Southern Indiana's Art and Design Department with the opportunity to develop a strong portfolio in preparation for graduate study. The fellowship allows the recipient to focus on their studio or design practice to expand their artistic vision and enhance their portfolio, to gain maturity as an art maker or designer and to successfully gain entrance to graduate school in their area of expertise.

Paired with Sheets' visual aesthetics in mind, Tangled Threadsfeatures illustration-based artworks from USI's permanent collection. The works were selected by Ripley Davis '25 and Jenna Norrick '25, both of whom were selected as James A. Sanders Fellows in 2024.

The James A. Sanders Fellowship supports students interested in exhibition design, publicity, curation and management. During the fellowship, students work closely with both the director of USI's Art Collection and the director of the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art, working on projects to support the mission of each organization.

A reception for the exhibitions will be held at 1:30 p.m. Friday, January 24. Please visit the McCutchan Art Center/Pace Galleries websitefor more details.

This exhibition will be displayed in the Gallery through February 7. The McCutchan Art Center/Pace Galleries, located in the lower level of the Liberal Arts Center, is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays.