FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Embroidered Textiles Exhibit to be Held at Bates

LEWISTON, Maine -- The exhibition "Nancy Hemenway: Embroidered Wall Sculptures" will open at the Bates College Museum of Art on June 7 with a reception for the internationally recognized artist at 7 p.m. in the Olin Arts Center. The public is invited to attend free of charge.

Displaying graphically compelling and texturally intricate wall sculptures, the exhibit will span several years of the artist's work from 1980 to the present. "Hemenway's work features a variety of colors, textures and themes inspired by Maine's rugged topography, events and phenomena frozen in memory, as well as a lifelong engagement with art," said Anthony Shostak, education coordinator of the Bates Museum of Art.

Born in Boothbay Harbor in 1920, Hemenway has spent much time living abroad in Europe, Central and South America and Africa. She studied music at Wheaton College and Harvard University before turning her talents toward the visual arts.

As a sculptor, Hemenway has earned several distinguished honors including a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship to South Africa and a doctor of fine arts degree from Wheaton.

She has exhibited her work at such important institutions as the Seattle Art Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago and the National Textile Museum in Washington, D.C.

The exhibition will remain on view at Bates through Aug. 16. Regular hours at the Bates College Museum of Art are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, with additional hours often scheduled on the evening of concerts and other special events at the Olin Arts Center on Russell Street in Lewiston. The galleries are closed Mondays, major holidays and during the installation of exhibitions. Admission is free.

Schools and other groups are welcome and tours are given by appointment. More information is available by calling the museum at 207-786-6158.

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