Washington and Lee University
Artist Shirley Irons is a painter and photographer who has been exhibiting, teaching, lecturing, and curating for over 25 years. She uses her paintings to "slow down, edit out, [and] look for the permanence in the transitory." In her current series, Irons paints empty institutional spaces, such as airports, office buildings, and hospitals, along with other fragments of daily life. The works evoke an ephemeral transcendence suspended in environments that we experience indirectly. Irons teaches at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and is represented by the Luisotti Gallery in Santa Monica, California. She will spend several days working with students during the exhibition.
Visiting artists in the Art Department are made possible by the generous support of the William Hollis Visiting Artist Fund.
The Department of Art and Art History at Washington and Lee University, located in newly-constructed Wilson Hall, offers courses in studio art and the history of art. Its program of study includes majors in each of these areas, and a recent surge of student interest has propelled the department into a place among the five most heavily subscribed academic units in the College.
