Contact: Melyssa Allen, Media Relations, (919) 760-8455, allenme@meredith.edu
For Immediate Release February 25, 2005

Meredith College, Raleigh, N.C— "Alternative Views: Paintings By Luke Miller Buchanan, Julia Martin, and Ollie Wagner" opens on Sunday, March 6, 2005 and continues through Sunday, April 3, 2005 in Meredith College's Rotunda Gallery.

The opening reception will be held on Sunday, March 6 from 2 p.m.-4 p.m. The paintings feature a new view of the past and present and offer a different perspective on landscape, society and people.

Raleigh native Luke Miller Buchanan graduated from the North Carolina State University College of Design. His work captures moments in time in the man made world and includes four main elements: photographs, paint, found objects from the painting sites, and the canvas. Saying, "Painting is memory projected," Buchanan uses Baltic birch panels on which he creates images of landscapes the viewer experiences rather than sees. Buchanan has had exhibitions in various galleries in Raleigh such as Artspace, April and George Gallery, Fish Market Gallery, Humble Pie and Visual Art Exchange. He has also shown in Loom II, Pittsboro, N.C.

Julia Martin is from Nashville, Tenn. and studied at the School of Visual Arts in Savannah, Ga. She uses the human figure to create paintings with emotional depth and meaning. Distorted faces and vivid colors fill her canvases. She defies expectations, and paints with strong ideas and emotions. Martin says, "Everyday I see a little more and translate a little more, and I truly hope to keep searching and developing." Martin has had solo shows at the April and George Gallery in Raleigh, and the Rumours Gallery, Jody's Bar Car, and Vanderbilt University Club in Nashville, Tenn. She worked as the set painter in the motion picture "The Castle" and as a commissioned portrait painter.

Oliver Wagner is also a native of Raleigh. His works depict images from the past and center on changes in ideas and perceptions of the seemingly sentimental and innocent. He is interested in societal practices and gender roles of his parent's generation, and uses his paintings to examine the dynamics of relationships between generations. He layers paper and paint, acquiring the images for his works by scanning through old textbooks and magazines. Wagner has shown at Artspace in Raleigh, N.C.

The exhibition is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 9a.m. – 5 p.m. The Rotunda Gallery is located in Johnson Hall, at the end of the front drive at the main entrance of the Meredith College campus.

For further information, contact the Meredith College Art Department at (919) 760-8332.

Chartered in 1891, Meredith College is a private, four-year, liberal arts college for women.