Exeter, NH (June 9, 2006)—From Tuesday, June 27 to Wednesday, July 26, the Lamont Gallery at Phillips Exeter Academy will present “Child’s Play,” a range of playful yet surprisingly sinister artistic works by Katrina Balling, Molly Barker, Sid Ceaser and Eric Legacy. An opening reception for the artists will be held on Thursday, July 20, from 7–8:00 p.m. The Lamont Gallery is located in the Frederick R. Mayer Art Center on Tan Lane in Exeter. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

Balling, who paints humanized animal figurines usually found at flea markets and secondhand shops, renders painstaking details capturing each personality and iridescent gleam. Balling has exhibited her works in the northeast since 1992. She earned her graduate and undergraduate degrees in sculpture from the School of Visual Arts and the University of New Hampshire, respectively. Of her work, she says she isn’t just attracted to the animal figurines because they are cute. “There’s usually something more sinister in my perception of their personalities, which I’m attracted to and try to accentuate. Turn the figurine one way, it is sweetness; turn again, and it glares menacingly,” she says.

Barker’s current work uses jungle gyms to define space and the lines in space. She says three-dimensional subjects have their own existence, and when she begins drawing an object, it occupies her mind—thoughts and feelings taking on the shape of the structure. “Drawing changes remembering, which changes seeing, which changes drawing,” she says. Barker has exhibited her paintings on both U.S. coasts, Canada and France. She earned her graduate certification and undergraduate degree in painting and visual art, respectively, from the University of California, Santa Cruz. 

Ceaser’s photographic subjects are action figures, sculpted with the aid of machines, which are then blown up to almost human size in his portraits. Each photograph is made to mimic human bodies and facial expressions. Ceaser says, “I present my subjects in a larger-than-life scale, giving (the toys) a new, overpowering identity. By directing the viewer’s eye to specific areas and blurring others out, I create the illusion that these could be real people posing in a studio setting.” Ceaser has exhibited his works in the northeast since 1999, and since then has earned a fine arts degree at the New Hampshire Institute of Art.

Legacy, a sculptor of metal and industrial salvage, says he systematically gathers, dissects, combines and re-invents sheets of metal, machine innards, and lost-and-found objects to find new meanings and aesthetics through mediums of sculpture, assemblage, and installation. “The primary intention of my art is to provide a ‘refreshing kick in the eye’ while at the same time unfurling a subversive tentacle in order to provoke question and reaction,” he says. A self-taught artist, Legacy has shown his works predominantly in Massachusetts since 1999, and in 2001, was artist in residence at the Contemporary Artists Center in North Adams, MA.

The works of Katrina Balling, Molly Barker, and Sid Ceaser courtesy of McGowan Fine Art, Concord, NH.

Gallery hours are Tuesday–Friday 9 a.m.–4 p.m.; closed on Saturday - Monday. For further information, contact the Lamont Gallery at (603) 777-3461. For directions to Phillips Exeter Academy, call (603) 777-4330. A complete list of upcoming events is available on the Phillips Exeter Academy public events line at (603) 777-4309 and on our website at www.exeter.edu.

Phillips Exeter Academy is a coeducational, independent preparatory school that was founded in 1781 and originated the system of instruction known as Harkness teaching in 1931. In the spirit of its charter to foster both goodness and knowledge, students come from a wide variety of geographic, economic, racial and religious backgrounds. The diverse student body comes from approximately 46 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and 25 foreign countries.

             Julie Quinn                                                                      Famebridge Witherspoon
             (603) 777-3450                                                              (603) 777-3450
             jquinn@exeter.edu                                                    fwitherspoon@exeter.edu