TLU News

Artist Brings Mandalas to TLU Exhibit

October 21st, 2009

“Hub Mandala,” by Virginia Fleck will be part of her exhibit, “Meditation Station: Your Zen Zone,” opening Thursday at the Annetta Kraushaar Gallery of the Schuech Fine Arts Center. The opening reception will be Thursday, Oct. 22, 3:30-7 p.m. with the artist speaking at 4 p.m.

SEGUIN – The Texas Lutheran University Visual Arts Department presents an exhibition by Austin artist Virginia Fleck. The exhibit, “Meditation Station: Your Zen Zone,” will be at the Annetta Kraushaar Gallery of the Schuech Fine Arts Center, Oct. 22-Dec. 2. The opening reception will be Thursday, Oct. 22, 3:30-7 p.m. with the artist speaking at 4 p.m.

Born in New York City, Fleck began making artwork in childhood and eventually studied at Portland School of Art and The School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. In 1990, she moved to Austin where she continues her work as a visual artist.

Fleck’s work is often a mandala, a universal, non-religious tool for meditation typically composed of highly decorative, symmetrical patterns. While a mandala is not sacred per se, they do appear, in some form, in almost every religion or spiritual practice.

“My choice of media, plastic bags, imbues my seemingly irreverent mandalas with a contemporary narrative that allows me to analyze the activity of consumerism as a spiritual encounter,” Fleck said.

Her mandalas are intricately crafted, large scaled works that reference painting, but are created by collaging pieces of debris from a consumerist society. The resulting works, each crafted from thousands of pieces of used plastic bags imprinted with familiar logos and slogans can be both humorous and unnerving.

“Thanks in part to electronic media and social networking sites we are continually monitored, manipulated and seduced by marketing campaigns that appeal to our conceits as consumers. The imagery on each plastic bag is designed by advertisers to cause instant association with worldly acquisitions,” she said.

Fleck has been the recipient of numerous grants and residencies including a fellowship for a residency and exhibition in Havana, Cuba. Recently, her work has been exhibited at Art Forum Berlin, Pulse Miami, Pulse New York, and Arte Fiera in Bologna, Italy.

She has been commissioned for both temporary and permanent public art projects throughout the United States. She recently completed The Spin Cycle for Whole Foods World Headquarters and Mandala Constellation for the Dell Children's Hospital, both in Austin.

Her work appears in many prestigious collections including the Marino Golinelli collection in Bologna, Italy. In 2007, Ms. Fleck was nominated for the Texas Prize, and won the juror's award for the 2007 Texas Biennial. Ms. Fleck's work has been written about and reviewed in many publications including Public Art Review, Voice of Germany, Kopenhagen.dk, Sculpture Magazine, Artlies!, Metropolitan Home, Western Interiors and Design, Glasstire, Houston Press, Houston Chronicle, Dallas Morning News, and the Boston Globe.

Founded in 1891, Texas Lutheran is an exclusively undergraduate university of the liberal arts, sciences and professional studies located in Seguin. For more information, visit the university’s Web site at www.tlu.edu.

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