NSS Juried Sculpture At Walsh Gallery

FAIRFIELD — Approximately 50 works – from a delicate ceramic vessel to a 350-pound marble piece – will be part of the National Sculpture Society (NSS) 2006 Annual Awards Exhibition at Fairfield University’s Thomas J. Walsh Art Gallery, which will run from Thursday, September 21, through Sunday, December 10. An opening reception with some of the artists will take place on Thursday, September 21, from 5 to 7 pm.

Open to NSS fellows, sculptor members and associates, the 73rd annual juried exhibit will feature works from across the country.

Connecticut artists who will be featured are Alice Sue Chism and Jeremy Davis, both of Old Lyme; Janice Mauro of Redding; Lisa Nonken of Hebron; and Virgil Oertle of East Lyme.

“This exhibition was met with such tremendous academic and community success at Fairfield University in 1991, we decided it was time to bring it back,” said Diana Mille, PhD, director of the gallery. “It will offer a unique opportunity to see large-scale sculptural works by contemporary artists outside of the museum setting.”

NSS is the oldest organization for professional sculptors in the United States. Master sculptors and architects including Daniel Chester French, Augustus St. Gaudens, Richard Morris Hunt and Stanford White founded the society in 1893. The non-profit organization promotes excellence in figurative and realist sculpture and its membership numbers about 4,000. Current members are represented in museum, corporate and private collections, and have contributed public sculptures across the nation.

Gallery hours are Tuesdays through Saturdays, from 11 am to 5 pm and Sundays from noon to 4 pm. Admission is free. The gallery is within the university’s Quick Center, on North Benson Road. For more information, call 203-254-4000, extension 2969.