Exhibition: Intersections: Joshua Whidden MFA Thesis Exhibition
Dates: April 1-16, 2016
Where: Harrison Galleries, 2315 University Boulevard, Tuscaloosa
Reception: Friday, April 1, 6-9 p.m., Harrison Galleries (First Friday)
The University of Alabama Department of Art and Art History is pleased to announce Joshua Whidden’s MFA thesis exhibition, Intersections, April 1-16, at the Harrison Galleries in downtown Tuscaloosa. There will be a reception Friday, April 1, 6-9 pm (First Friday). The public is cordially invited to attend.
Intersections features paintings which explore expressive gesture and the relationship gesture has with written language. Whidden says, “Rather than communicating a specific literal meaning as with words, the gesture can communicate a more complex array of emotions and feelings that can be interpreted in different ways by the viewer. They are the direct result of the physical act of a specific human being at a specific time and place.” Whidden also links the gestures he creates in his paintings to our current way of life: “The dense and chaotic 
nature of these paintings also references our twenty-first century experience of being subjected to a proliferation of imagery, information and digital correspondence. The interconnected and overlapped lines of gesture in the work speak to our current state of digital interconnectedness and the interconnected nature of all things.”
Joshua Whidden received his BFA in studio art with a concentration in painting from the University of West Florida in Pensacola, Florida, in 2011. During his time at The University of Alabama, Whidden has assisted multiple classes in printmaking and painting and has taught Drawing I and Beginning Painting. In 2015 he presented his paper, “Paths of Painting,” on SECAC’s Newest Generation of Artist Educators panel in Pittsburgh, PA. He was awarded the Alvin C. and Joseph Sella Endowed Scholarship for 2014-15, “in recognition of exemplary dedication and commitment to academic achievement.”
Harrison Galleries is located at 2315 University Boulevard in downtown Tuscaloosa and is open Monday through Friday, 12 noon to 5:00 pm, and by appointment: (205) 464-0054.
Image credit: Joshua Whidden, Redact. Image courtesy of the artist.
The thesis exhibition is in partial fulfillment of the Master of Fine Arts degree in the Department of Art and Art History at The University of Alabama. For more information on the graduate programs of the UA department of art and art history, visit this link: https://art.ua.edu/academics/graduate-programs/art-requirements/.