Frozen Architecture”is a unique art exhibit opening in the CreativeArtsCenters Laura Mesaros Gallery Thursday, Feb. 13.

The group exhibition features the work of several contemporary artists from the region and New York, whose work responds to modern architecture. The artists use modern architecture as a conceptual starting point for the issues and form of their work. They work in a variety of media, including painting, photography, digital printmaking and sculpture.

Curated by Kristina Olson, the exhibition will be open Feb. 13 through March 12.

Artists represented include:

�?�  Diana Cooper , a painter and installation artist from Brooklyn, N.Y.

�?�  Robert Raczka , associate professor of art at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa., and director of Alleghenys art galleries

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*�?� Paul Krainak , professor in the WVU Division of Art and head of the painting program

�?� Rita McBride , an installation artist from New York City

�?� James Dustin , a painter from Brooklyn, N.Y.

Cooper will present WVU s Annual Deem Distinguished Artist Lecture on the opening day of the exhibition, Feb. 13, at 5 p.m. in the CAC s Gladys G. Davis Theatre. A public reception will follow at the gallery. The lecture is made possible through a donation to the WVU College of Creative Arts from Alison and Patrick Deem of Bridgeport. Alison Harper Deem is a WVU graduate and a member of the College of Creative Arts Board of Visitors. Patrick Deem is an attorney in Clarksburg.

In addition, Robert Raczka will present a visiting artist lecture Thursday, March 6, at 5 p.m. in the Davis Theatre.

Cooper is a graduate of Harvard and received her Master of Fine Arts degree from HunterCollege in New York. She also holds a certificate of fine arts from New YorkStudioSchool. The New Yorker described her most recent New York exhibition in 2002 as”her most purely architectural work so far, a six-foot-tall freestanding space-age doll house.”She is known for humble-looking, yet labor-intensive works �€many containing bits of acetate and felt, post-its and her trademark colored pom-poms that comment on the machines and systems that keep the world humming.

Raczka has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in photography and printmaking from NorthernArizonaUniversity and an M.F.A. in photography from the University of Florida, Gainesville. His works in photography and digital photography have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions around the country. He recently explored his fascination with architecture and ornamentation in an exhibition he created wearing a blindfold. The combination of collage and photography was designed to create a composition and beauty that is largely accidental.

Krainak holds an M.F.A. in painting from NorthernIllinoisUniversity and exhibits his work internationally. His use of imagery is concerned with architectural space, design and history, predominantly modern or post-modern. The work attempts to express the collapsing of architectural space (interior and exterior) into one readable plane.

McBride has an M.F.A. from California Institute of the Arts. As a sculptor, she creates architectural forms and models as a key reference in her work. Some of her recent works �€such as small bronze parking garages, a car constructed in rattan or a bleacher stand made of light-weight wood and fiber optic cables �€are utilitarian objects rendered in non-functional materials and scale, which point to the vagaries of 20th century design.

Dustin graduated from the Maine College of Art and is fascinated with the urban environment.”My interest is in presenting things in multiples,”he says.”To better understand something through re-examination.”An example of his recent work is”Cement Plant,”a series of paintings based on a decaying cement plant located near Hudson, N.Y. Dustins interest was primarily with the screen-like effect of the remaining side walls in contrast to the perspective of massive central shed space.

All Mesaros Galleries events, including art lectures, exhibitions and receptions, are free and open to the public. Gallery hours are noon to 9:30 p.m., Monday-Saturday. The galleries are closed Sundays and University holidays. Special individual or group viewing times may be arranged upon request.

For more information, call 304-293-4841, ext. 3210.