Bloomsburg University’s Art Department welcomed alum Catherine Haggerty back to BloomU for a reception honoring her artwork. The reception was one of many events highlighting the College of Liberal Arts symposium, Oct. 4 was the opening of the current gallery show being displayed in the second floor of Haas Center.

Haggerty is a 2006 graduate of Bloomsburg University and she continuously referenced her experiences throughout her gallery talk. She also expressed gratitude to former professors that she recognized in the crowd gathered to listen to her.

She explained that when she attended Bloomsburg she was a double major in both Psychology and Fine Arts.

She expressed that while she is grateful for her experiences with the staff in the psychology department, it was ultimately the staff in the art department that gave her the courage to believe that she could be an artist.

Her show is titled “Impossible Pictures II” and features several of her most recent paintings that she has created in her studio located in Brooklyn, New York. Haggerty currently resides in New York City.

However, these works were created to emulate her experiences while completing a residency in France. She noted that she observed the colors, light, and architecture that she would later use to create the incredible paintings that hang in Haas.

The materials that she uses most often are oil and acrylic paint on canvas and some of her paintings also incorporate collage in some way. She also made the comment that she hopes the viewer can’t fully explain the paintings and that she hopes they make you think.

I find it interesting that one painting in particular looks like blobs of paint when you are looking at it up close, but if you stand across the room and look at it from a distance, you can see that it is an island. The allusion that was demonstrated in this painting made it my favorite as well as the appealing color scheme.

Haggerty currently teaches college students and she said that she is always inspired by kids and students, both the individuals themselves and the work that they create.

I highly recommend going to view the wonderful paintings that Catherine Haggerty has shared with the Bloomsburg community through this gallery display.

The show will be running until Nov. 15 in the Haas Center. Be sure to catch Haggerty’s masterpieces before they depart Bloomsburg University.
    

The artwork of Catherine Haggerty, a BU alum, is on display in Haas Center until Nov. 4.