‘The Captiva Daybooks’ Opens at Lafayette’s Williams Center Gallery

In The Captiva Daybooks, a new exhibit at Lafayette College, Robert Petersen presents drawings, photographs and journal entries from his time on the Florida island where he lived from 1970 to 1980 and worked closely with artist Robert Rauschenberg.

The exhibit, which is free and open to the public, runs until Dec. 21 in the Williams Center Gallery, first floor of the Williams Center for the Arts, 317 Hamilton St. The gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

The journal artworks were born out of Petersen’s sketchbooks, where he collected observations of his daily surroundings, drawings for future pieces, musings, postcards, photographs, and ephemera such as calendar clippings and magazine illustrations. At each month’s end, he would distill the highlights into a 20 x 30 inch drawing, which is an aesthetic that remains in his artwork today. Often dense with information, a viewer’s close reading is rewarded with observations of the art world.

Fifteen drawings from 1976-1988, a painting and associated journal drawing-studies, and archival photographs are included in the exhibition.  Also featured is a recent gift of the Louise Moore Pine Estate to the College’s Special Collections. “Opal Gospel,” 1971, is an artist’s book with nine American Indian poems presented on 10 hand silk-screened transparent acrylic panels, a stand and a steel case.

For additional information: artgallery@lafayette.edu, (610) 330-5361; visit Lafayette’s galleries and Petersen’s exhibit.

The Lafayette College Art Galleries and EPI receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

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Photos courtesy of Lafayette College.
Higher resolution images available.

Kathleen Parrish
Associate Director of Media Relations
Lafayette College
Communications Division
Easton, PA 18042
parrishk@lafayette.edu
www.lafayette.edu