ASU Professor's Artwork Exhibited at Two Local Venues!

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ASU Art professor Elana Hagler (photo credit: David Campbell/ASU).
 
Nationally Acclaimed ASU Professor Has Art Exhibited at Two Local Venues!
- ASU Professor Elana Hagler is nationally known for designing the image of President George H.W. Bush for the U.S. Mint.
- This weekend, her art will be exhibited at Stonehenge Gallery & awarded as prizes by the Montgomery Business Arts Committee.
 
By: Kenneth Mullinax/ASU
 
An assistant professor of Visual Art at Alabama State University, who earlier this year made national news for designing a Presidential coin of George H.W. Bush for the U.S. Mint, has an exhibit of her art at a prestigious local gallery this weekend. Her paintings of Alabama birds will also be presented as awards for local businesses involved in supporting the arts.
 
ASU professor Elana Hagler will have two public presentations of her creative talent on display this weekend, including four pastels of birds native to Alabama, that will be given as prizes on Friday (Nov. 6), at the Montgomery Area Business Committee for the Arts (MABCA) 34th Annual Business in the Arts Awards, and on Sunday (Nov. 8), at a special exhibition of her art at the Stonehenge Gallery in Montgomery's Old Cloverdale historic section.
 
"As an artist and art educator, I must say that I am so overjoyed to have my paintings used as awards for the support of the arts here in  Montgomery," Hagler said.
 
She said the native birds depicted in her paintings include the Blue Jay, Cedar Waxwing, Eastern Bluebird and the Blue Jay. 
Hagler said despite the coronavirus pandemic and its self-imposed isolation, she has had a most creative and productive several months with her artistic imagery of birds, the creation of landscapes and a special charcoal drawing of her daughter.
 
 
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A sparrow, as painted by ASU's Visual Art professor Elana Hagler, will be exhibited at Stonehenge Gallery on Nov. 8 (contributed image).
 
SUNDAY EXHIBIT AT STONEHENGE
On Sunday, the Stonehenge Gallery will have an outdoor event with refreshments and an inside art exhibition titled "Art in the Time of the Pandemic," which will consist of Hagler's work and that of fellow artist Nancy Mims Hartfield. The event will be from 2 - 4 p.m. at the gallery's location at 401 Cloverdale Road. It is open to the public. Social distancing and mask wearing will be required.
 
"At Stonehenge, I will exhibit original works of my art with some of them for sale, which includes both Alabama and other birds, landscapes and a special charcoal of my daughter, which is not for sale," Hagler stated.
 
The ASU art professor said that she chose to focus a large part of her art on the imagery of birds.
 
"These images are part of a larger series of birds that I have made for my upcoming show at Stonehenge Gallery. With the isolation resulting from quarantining due to this pandemic, we are all wishing for a chance to spread our wings, yearning for freedom. This yearning has a special meaning to me for this very difficult historical moment," Hagler said.
 
The artist stated that birds, in Western society, are viewed as symbols of mercy, hope and divine intervention.
 
"The seasons keep passing and the birds remain free of our confinements and our concerns. My birds have been taken out of regular, everyday situations, and have entered into a timeless and liminal space, via my art," Hagler surmised.
 
For more details on Hagler's exhibition at Stonehenge Gallery on Nov.8, visit stonehengeinc.com 
 
News media contact: Kenneth Mullinax, 334-229-4104.
 
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