Meridian Museum of Art holds reception for exhibit

By By Penny Randall / staff writer
Jan. 12, 2003
A reception is set for Saturday to honor the two women who currently have work on display at Meridian Museum of Art.
Wanda G. Atkinson is showing her collection called "Presence/Absence," a series of artwork dedicated to the subject of child abuse.
Mary Lembke's work focuses on ceramic sculpture and photography, using the concept of immersion in both media.
Atkinson received her bachelor's in painting and her master's of fine arts, with emphasis in sculptural ceramic and photography, from the University of Alabama.
Wanda Atkinson
Atkinson's work has been featured in a one-person show at Casteel Gallery. It also has been featured in several group shows, including an invitation-only photography exhibit, Light Sensitive, sponsored by the Art Students League at the University of Alabama.
She received an Achievement Award in the 2000 Bi-State Competition at Meridian Museum of Art. She has taught at the University of Alabama, Meridian Community College and University of West Alabama.
Atkinson encourages parents to bring their children to the exhibit. She will have a chalk board, paper and pens for children to use to create a piece of artwork on their own.
In addition, Atkinson will have several pieces for sale on the night of the reception. Proceeds from those will benefit Wesley House and Hope Village for Children.
Mary Lembke
Lembke received her undergraduate degree from Tulane University in 1992 and her master of fine arts degree from the University of Alabama in 1997.
She has taught ceramics classes at the collegiate level, and she also offers community art classes through the Birmingham Museum of Art.
She has previously exhibited her work in shows in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
Her ceramic pieces included in this exhibit reflect the partial or full immersion of human figures in water.
Lembke said her intent in pursuing this theme has been to transform a static material, clay, giving it the illusion of an energized and fluid state in the form of moving water.
Lembke's photographic pieces included in the exhibit were created through use of a primitive pinhole camera with the goal of recording what the eye cannot see.
With the pinhole camera, she achieved the regeneration of images into unique compositions through the use of long exposures, movement and artificial and natural light sources. Through the use of these techniques, the subjects become immersed in the shadows of movement or submerged in light.