Washington and Lee University

Shirley Irons

Artist Shirley Irons is a painter and photographer who has been exhibiting, teaching, lecturing, and curating for over 25 years. She uses her paintings to "slow down, edit out, [and] look for the permanence in the transitory." In her current series, Irons paints empty institutional spaces, such as airports, office buildings, and hospitals, along with other fragments of daily life. The works evoke an ephemeral transcendence suspended in environments that we experience indirectly. Irons teaches at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and is represented by the Luisotti Gallery in Santa Monica, California. She will spend several days working with students during the exhibition.

Visiting artists in the Art Department are made possible by the generous support of the William Hollis Visiting Artist Fund.

Netsuke: A Glance at Part of the Glickstein Collection

Introduced in 14th century Japan, the netsuke would hang from a kimono's obi or sash by a cord to attach the container in which Japanese men stored their personal belongings such as pipes, tobacco, money, seals, or medicines. These ancestors of the toggle soon became elaborately sculpted from ivory, lacquer, wood, and other exotic materials like rhinoceros horn or walrus tusk. The netsuke in the Washington and Lee Collection come from distinguished alumnus, Joseph M. Glickstein.

Hear traditional and contemporary arrangements of favorite holiday tunes performed by the Wind Ensemble, String Ensemble and University Chorus.