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Pensacola State first-year photography student Davan Royster moved slowly through the College’s Switzer Gallery, taking in every bit of the compelling artwork of Sue Havens, whose “Cull+” exhibition is now on display.
And there was a lot to take in, especially as Royster studied a large “Brick & Mortar” design, a city-grid inspired piece of art that can be deceiving, depending on one’s perspective – almost a “forest for the trees” situation.
“It’s really great,’’ said Royster, a U.S. Navy veteran. “The colors and shapes in the design just draw you in. It’s like it is its own world.”
Royster was one of many who attended the opening reception for Havens’ “Cull+” exhibition, which is on display in the Switzer Gallery of the Anna Lamar Switzer Center for Visual Arts through Sept. 23.
A native of Rochester, New York, Havens is currently an assistant professor at the University of South Florida in Tampa.
Before the reception, Havens held an Artist Lecture where she described her work and process.
“You’ll see some things here that display a real seriousness,’’ she said. “But there’s also a sense of humor in the work that I hope that carries through.”
Havens work has been featured in exhibitions in New York City, Germany and Sweden, and in the pages of Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine and the New American Painting magazine.
She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art and a Master of Fine Arts in painting from the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College in 2003.
Havens is a 2008 Fellowship recipient in Painting from the New York Foundation for the Arts and a recipient of the 2017 McKnight Junior Faculty Development Fellowship.
In 2010, she released the book “Make Your Own Toys,” a how-to book with Havens illustrations and designs showing how to make 22 different stuffed toys.
The Anna Lamar Switzer Center for Visual Arts is open 8 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday. Admission is always free.
Details – 850-454-2550 or https://visualarts.pensacolastate.edu/switzer-gallery/.