Envisioned Worlds exhibit opens at New Harmony Gallery

The New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art presents "Envisioned Worlds: Lithographs from the Hokes Archives," a 25-year survey of prints by Beauvais Lyons from July 25 to September 5.

Lyons, a chancellor's professor of art at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville is the self-appointed director of the Hokes (pronounced "hoax") Archives He has been creating elaborate works of academic and museum parody for over three decades. This exhibit offers a window into his invented worlds.

Lyons also will be at the University of Southern Indiana on August 28 for an afternoon workshop and lecture.

Lyons's art may be regarded as a form of science fiction, but one that uses historical methods of representation. His art is informed by literary and cinematic traditions of mock-documentation, and he often speaks at his exhibitions about the imaginary founder of the Archives, Everitt Ormsby Hokes.

This exhibit is comprised of 25 lithographs from three of his projects "Reconstruction of an Aazudian Temple," "Hokes Medical Arts," and "The Association for Creative Zoology." In addition to the lithographs, there is a selection of Aazudian pottery and an introductory video lecture.

Lyons has taught printmaking at the University of Tennessee since 1985. He received a Masters of Fine Art from Arizona State University. His one-person exhibitions have been presented at over 60 museums and galleries in the United States and abroad. His prints are in the collections of the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, DC; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York; and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art is an outreach partner of the University of Southern Indiana. The gallery is located at 506 Main Street in New Harmony, Indiana. Regular hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call 812-682-3156 or go to www.usi.edu/nhgallery.