Audrey Davis and Lucia Calderon Arrieta Art Exhibition

Two Birmingham-Southern College alumni artists will be featured in an upcoming exhibition titled “Esthesia” at the Durbin Gallery on campus.

“Esthesia”—in conjunction with the annual Art Students League/Sloss Furnaces iron pour—is an exhibition of photographs by local photographer Audrey Davis, a 2013 BFA graduate, and drawings and paintings by Lucia Calderon Arrieta, a 2013 BFA graduate from West Bloomfield, Mich. It will be on display Oct. 13-26.

An opening reception for the exhibition and an iron pour by Sloss Furnaces metal arts sculptors will be held Friday, Oct. 13, from 5-8 p.m. at the gallery. The Herb Trotman Band will entertain during the event. Attendees will be able to purchase a sand mold to create their own iron keepsake; purchases benefit the BSC Art Student League. The artists will talk about their work on Thursday, Oct. 12, at 11 a.m. in the art lecture room of the Kennedy Center/Azar Studios. The talk and exhibition are open to the public and free of charge.

Davis’ photographs depict unique narratives, whether through means of alternative processes, vintage costuming, or comedic tropes.

“I am particularly attracted to scenarios that can be seen as dramatic, but have an interplay of whimsy and humor,” said Davis, a prop stylist for Time Inc. Food Studios in Birmingham.

Arrieta creates textiles, paintings, and drawings to explore the question of who authorizes a person’s identity in relationship to her Peruvian-American heritage.

“I use the vibrant palette of Andean textiles to stitch and draw layers of self-portraits,” said Arrieta, who earned an MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield. “Drawing is a quick, instinctive way to record information, while hand-sewing is a laborious and repetitive process. The sewing process gives me time for self-reflection, while also distancing the act of self-portraiture from the body it means to represent.”

BSC’s gallery is located in the Doris Wainwright Kennedy Art Center/Azar Art Studios. During the exhibition, it will be open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.