Sculpture by a Marshall University art professor and panels from the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt will be on view Oct. 16 through Nov. 13 at West Virginia University .

After Everything Else,featuring sculpture by Claire Sherwood, will open Thursday (Oct. 16) in the Paul Mesaros Gallery in the WVU Creative Arts Center . Sherwood will present a public lecture at 5 p.m. in the Bloch Learning and Performance Hall (200A).

Art, AIDS &Activism,featuring panels created by Gert McMullin for the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, will open the same day in the Laura Mesaros Gallery .

A public reception for both exhibitions will be at 6 p.m. in the galleries.

Sherwood was born in Troy, N.Y., and obtained her Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Maryland in 2003. She is an assistant professor and Foundations Program coordinator at Marshall University.

She has won numerous grants and awards for her work. In summer 2006, she received an Artist in the Community Residency at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts in Wilmington. While in residence, she worked with the Baylor Womens Correctional Institution, creating a group installation/video addressing issues of womens domestic spaces and nontraditional roles.

The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt is the premiere symbol of the AIDS pandemic, the largest piece of community art in the world and a living memorial to a generation lost to AIDS . Founded in 1987, The AIDS Memorial Quilt is a poignant memorial, a powerful tool for use in preventing new HIV infections and the largest community arts project in the world. Each block of The AIDS Memorial quilt measures about 12 feet square, and a typical block consists of eight individual 3-by-6 panels sewn together. Virtually every one of the more than 40,000 colorful panels that make up the quilt memorializes the life of a person lost to AIDS .

This exhibition highlights panels created by McMullin, an artist and activist who has contributed more than 100 panels to the quilt.

The exhibition is curated by Ron Aman , assistant professor of art at WVU . Amans primary areas of research include community-based and issue-based art education. His graduate research focused on The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt.

Managed and programmed by curator Robert Bridges and the WVU Division of Art , the Mesaros Galleries organize a diverse schedule of exhibitions throughout the year. The galleries are committed to showing experimental work that is innovative both in terms of media and content. The Mesaros Galleries also play host to contemporary artists of important or growing reputation who work in all media in its Visiting Artist Program.

All Mesaros Galleries eventsincluding art lectures, exhibitions and receptionsare free and open to the public.

Gallery hours are noon-9:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The galleries are closed Sundays and University holidays. Special individual or group viewing times may be arranged upon request.

For more information, contact Bridges at 304-293-4841 ext. 3210 or 293-2312.