Kenneth P. McCutchan Art Center/Palmina F. and Stephen S. Pace Galleries

Chatter: Al Sheets, 2024 Efroymson Bridge Year Fellow

Tangled Threads: Curated by Ripley Davis and Jenna Norrick, 2024 Sanders Fellows

January 13 — F ebruary 7

Reception 
1:30 p.m. | January 24, 2025

The Kenneth P. McCutchan Art Center/Palmina F. and Stephen S. Pace Galleries is pleased to present Chatter by Al Sheets.  Al was awarded the 2024 Efroymson Bridge Year Fellowship. 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.

Al 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. 

Paired specifically with Al Sheets’s visual aesthetics in mind, Tangled Threads features illustration-based artworks from the University of Southern Indiana’s permanent collection. The works were selected by Ripley Davis and Jenna Norrick, 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 on projects support the mission of each organization.

A reception for the exhibitions will be held on Friday, January 24^th beginning at 1:30 p.m. 

Pedestrians may enter the McCutchan Art Center and Pace Galleries from the main level or the lower level of the Liberal Arts Center. Find parking locations using our interactive map!

From the main campus:
Enter the Liberal Arts Center through the main or side entrance. Go down the main stairwell in the center of the building. Continue ahead, veering right past the elevators. Turn right around the corner. The Art Center and Galleries entrance should be straight ahead.

From Parking Lot J:
Pedestrians coming from Lot J have two options for entering the Art Center and Galleries:

• Option A: Enter through the main gallery entrance off of Bent Twig Lane on the west side of the building.
• Option B: Enter through the lower level of the Liberal Arts Center on the south side of the building, opposite the Business and Engineering Center. Once inside the building, continue to the lower level lobby. Turn left towards Kleymeyer Hall and left again past the elevators. Turn right around the corner. The Art Center and Galleries entrance should be straight ahead.

Visitor Drop-off:

A driveway off of Bent Twig Lane allows visitors to be dropped off directly at the door of the Art Center. After taking the exit to USI, approach the roundabout at the campus entrance and take the first road to the right. Curve around the back of the Health Professions Center and Education and Science Center buildings, and you will see the Liberal Arts Center on your left, opposite Reflection Lake. The McCutchan Art Center and Pace Galleries is located in the central wing on the back of the Liberal Arts Center. The driveway entrance is on the south side.