PirateQ 
Dan Charbonnet
‘Fire in the Evening’ and ‘The Fluidity of Perception’ will be on display through Spring
Two new exhibitions featuring the works of three renowned artists will open in Pensacola State College’s Anna Lamar Switzer Center for Visual Arts in January.
“Fire in the Evening,” an exclusive debut of Dan Charbonnet’s artwork, will be exhibited now through March 8 in the Switzer Gallery.
An Artist Lecture and Q&A session is set for 5 p.m. Jan. 23 in the Lamar Lecture Hall, Room 1513. A reception will follow.
A Louisiana contemporary abstract painter, Charbonnet will premiere a second continuum of his abstracted painting constructions, which strive to balance process and composition. The body of work will include the addition of clay forms that complement the organic shapes in the paintings.
Charbonnet has been working with weaved straps of torn canvas for several years. “Fire in the Evening” will feature a new interlace series and several past iterations from achromatic compositions to networks of striped color.
“Some of the pieces focus on the surface, some are all about the sensation of the color, and others concentrate on the shape of the supports,” said Charbonnet in a prepared statement. Charbonnet earned his Master of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of New Orleans.
Chris Gustin and Nancy Train Smith
Chris Gustin and Nancy Train Smith’s “The Fluidity of Perception” will be on display now through May 17 in the Charles W. Lamar Studio Gallery.
The exhibition is a collaboration with the Gulf Coast Kiln Walk Society and will present a collective body of ceramic works from the internationally-known artist couple.
Gustin and Smith will host a live panel discussion at 5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 8, in the Lamar Lecture Hall, Room 1513. A reception will follow.
Through his explorations of form, Gustin encourages viewers to seek personal connections with his work. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Kansas City Art Institute and a Master of Fine Arts from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.
Smith uses “abstracted” forms to depict her perception of the natural world. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Art History from Wellesley College. She further studied at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, where she completed a four-year diploma program.
The Anna Lamar Switzer Center for Visual Arts is Building 15 on the Pensacola campus at 1000 College Blvd. All events are free and open to the public.
The galleries are open 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Friday. Tours are available with prior arrangements. Call 850-484-1462.