The gallery in the Bernice Coulter Templeton Art Studio starts its second exhibition season with an installation that is energetic, employs fantasy, and requires the viewer to bring imagination and curiosity while walking through an extraordinary forest. One like you have never seen before.

In the words of the artist, Molly Dierks, "I am inspired by the shapes, lines, and language in industrial society that convey information about identity and desire. On my phone, computer and in my studio, I have an ever accreting collection of samples of mass-distributed media, ranging from the weathered trash I find in medians or parking lots, to gumball-machine baubles purchased at the grocery store, to phrases from advertisements. The process of manipulating and recombining my collection of language, objects, and forms is part of an ongoing quest to deconstruct and distill the formal and linguistic qualities of desire, conformity, and love."

Dierks takes the objects of our everyday life and throws them back into our heads to be transformed, rearranged and redefined. In Somewhere There Is An Island, Dierks explores and analyzes how commercialism, technology and our 'throw-away' culture interconnect to impact the substance of our lives in the 21st Century. 

Molly Dierks is an assistant professor of art at Tarleton State University. She has an MFA in Art & Design from the University of Michigan, completed post-baccalaureate work in Sculpture & Extended Media at Virginia Commonwealth University and has a BFA from Dartmouth College. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. 

Make sure to celebrate the arts by putting this on your calendar and plan to visit this first exhibition. 

• Exhibition dates: Aug. 20 - Sept. 13
• Artist Reception: Sept. 8, 2-4 p.m.
• Artist Lecture: Sept. 11, 12:30 - 1:30 p.m.

Gallery hours are Monday - Thursday 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. All events pertaining to this exhibition are free and open to the public. 

For further information call Kit Hall, 817-531-4984 or email khall@txwes.edu.