Retrospective - the Art of Nancy Prudic and Grace Summanen
Lake Erie College Department of Visual Arts hosts
Retrospective: Art of Nancy Prudic and Grace Summanen
“From Past to Present”
March 2 through March 30
The public is invited to experience and enjoy the work of two innovative NE Ohio visual artists through the retrospective exhibit of their work. The exhibit takes place in the B. K. Smith Gallery in Royce Hall for Fine and Performing Arts on the Lake Erie College campus in Painesville, Ohio. Free, convenient parking is in the lot adjacent to Royce Hall, with the lot entrance on Gillett Street.
Retrospective: Art of Nancy Prudic and Grace Summanen Past to Present will be at the gallery March 2-30, with a complimentary Meet the Artist Welcome Reception from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. on March 23. There is no admission charge.
Although strikingly different from each other, the exhibit by these two artists invites the viewer to look more deeply at the familiar and not accept a subject at face value. “The materials I use do not stand as I find them but are transformed with paint into something else and, by doing this, the viewer is confronted with possibilities,” commented artist Grace Summanen. “In my relief paintings I use folded or layered flat fabric to explore texture, line, and movement.”
Although artist Nancy Prudic’s formal education was in ceramics and sculpture, her work is concept driven and materials coalesce around the idea. In this retrospective exhibit, Nancy “uses the powerful image of the human figure to comment on topics as varied as homelessness, personal identity, servitude, medical practice, mortality and ego.”
About the Artist – Nancy Prudic
Nancy Prudic, Professor Emerita at Lake Erie College holds a BFA from Cleveland Institute of Art & MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her artistic career spans 55 years and includes working in the Education Department of the Cleveland Museum of Art and adjunct positions at Cuyahoga Community College and Ursuline College. Nancy began her relationship with Lake Erie College as artist in residence and gallery director in 1995 and retired as full Professor of Visual Art in 2022. Her oeuvre includes sculpture, installation and performance. Work curated into this exhibition will include objects produced during her entire career as an artist.
About the Artist – Grace Summanen
Grace Summanen joined Lake Erie College as the Instructor of Visual Arts in the Fall of 2022. Grace holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and an MFA from Kent State University. Grace has taught as an adjunct professor at the College since 2017. She has been an adjunct at the University of Akron, Kent State University, and Lakeland Community College and worked in the Education Department of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Grace’s career spans almost 30 years. Her formal education is in painting and drawing, but she approaches her work from a multidisciplinary perspective consisting of painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, and installation. Materiality and pushing boundaries have been consistent themes in her work.