Ouachita faculty member Donnie Copeland’s artwork on exhibit in Hot Springs
February 19, 2015 - McKenzie Cranford
Ouachita Baptist University associate professor Donnie Copeland, chair of OBU’s Department
of Art and Design, currently has three compositions on display as part of the Justus
Fine Art Gallery’s Pattern and Form exhibition in Hot Springs. The show opened earlier this month and runs through the
end of February.
“Professor Copeland’s artwork has been exhibited throughout the region,” noted Dr.
Scott Holsclaw, dean of the School of Fine Arts. “His exhibit at the Justus Fine Art
Gallery is just another example of the professionalism and expertise our faculty bring
to their teaching. As always, we are proud of Professor Copeland and his continued
recognition as an Arkansas artist.”
The Pattern and Form exhibition highlights work by artists who incorporate the use of pattern and/or form
as a primary focus of their work. Along with Copeland, work by artists Dustyn Bork,
Carly Dahl, Robert Fogel, Tony Saladino and Dan Thornhill is also on display in the
exhibition.
“I am pleased to be showing my work along with that of several other artists from
Arkansas and beyond,” Copeland said. “The show includes a few of my most recent artworks,
and it has been great to get the public’s response to those pieces.”
Copeland uses painted paper on canvas to create patterned compositions. According
to Copeland, the patterns in each artwork are intended to suggest the idea of a pulse,
whether that of an individual or the give and take of a relationship between people.
This could also be the pulse of a pattern seen in a planted field or tree rings in
layered rock formations.
“The experience of travel and exchange with people and places” is also of significance
in Copeland’s work, he said. Landscape, local and distant, continues to be an important
stimulus. Much of his childhood was spent in West Africa, a place filled with music,
color and rich culture. “The pulse of music in a church service, a parade or the texture
and smell of a market” have had as much influence on his artwork as the great paintings
and buildings of Europe, he added.
After graduating from Ouachita in 2000, Copeland earned Master of Arts and Master
of Fine Arts degrees from the University of Dallas. His work has been included in
solo and group exhibitions in Houston, Kansas City and throughout the southeastern
United States, including the 2011 Delta Exhibit at the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock and a 2012 exhibition entitled Boundary Hunters at the Fosdick-Nelson Gallery at Alfred University in New York.
Hours of the Justus Fine Art Gallery are 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday,
or by appointment. For more information, contact Donnie Copeland at [email protected]
or (870) 245-5559.
By McKenzie Cranford
You Also Might Like
Recent