The University of Alabama Gallery is proud to present the exhibition, An Act of Attention, the Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition of Molly Lay. The exhibition will run April 7 through May 5, 2023. There will be a reception for the artist on First Friday, April 7, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.
In her artist statement, Lay writes: “My current work explores the habit of walking through natural spaces and the opportunity this practice creates to bring a sense of awareness to one’s lived experience. I am interested in how the pace and pattern of footfalls can affect thought patterns. As I walk, I often write. The act of putting words to my experience turns my mind from wandering thoughts or anxieties. As well as writing, I collect and create objects influenced by these journeys. I have found that walking, writing and creating provide unique opportunities to still the mind by a simple act of attention beyond the self.”
Molly Lay is a graduate student in sculpture and a teaching assistant in 3D Design. She received the Leslie and Francis Posey Foundation Graduate Art Scholarship in 2021, and has been awarded a Small Grant by The Arts Council of Tuscaloosa and a Levitetz “Community Work Grant” Seed Grant for two different public sculpture projects in Tuscaloosa.
Lay held an internship at the Birmingham Museum of Art in Education and Community Engagement and worked as a curator for the Great Explorations Children’s Museum in Saint Petersburg, Fla., and summer art program coordinator at Brookwood Baptist Church in Birmingham. As a freelance artist, she created illustrations for advertisements and painted a mural in Kathmandu, Nepal, in 2018. She received the BA in studio art from Samford University and studied a semester at the Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughan, County Clare, Ireland.
The University of Alabama Gallery, an essential part of the education and development of UA students and our community, offers a year-round schedule of exhibitions by faculty, students, and guest artists. Admission to the gallery is free. The gallery is located in the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center at 620 Greensboro Avenue in Tuscaloosa. It is open Monday through Friday, 9 am-4 pm and First Fridays 12 noon-7 pm. Have questions or need assistance? Call the gallery at (205) 345-3038 or phone (205) 342-2060.
For more information about The University of Alabama’s programs in art history and studio art, visit our Degree Programs page.