Gadsden, AL - First Friday, June 2nd the Gadsden Museum of Art will host an opening reception

for two shows: Ironic Design, an exhibit organized by the museum’s Exhibits Coordinator

Blake Dodgen, and An Open Heart Allows Blessings to Flow by Claire Lewis Evans.

As part of his thesis exhibition and research to complete his MFA, Blake Dodgen is curating an

exhibit at the Gadsden Museum of Art titled Ironic Design. The exhibit features an array of

disciplines showcasing different interpretations of irony. The exhibit is ultimately a research

component to determine how patrons react to irony and how it plays a crucial role as an

element of contemporary design.

An Open Heart Allows Blessings to Flow showcases the work of Atlanta native Claire Lewis

Evans. Evans works with a variety of media and materials, but in recent years she has made

sculpture her primary creative focus. An Open Heart features large, colorful mobiles made of

materials like mulberry paper and bamboo. These hovering sculptures serve as tangible

reminders to seize the day and are intended to be observed in person, in motion. Evans

currently lives in Tuscaloosa and teaches at The University of Alabama.

Walking and Flying by Sarah Landrum will continue to be displayed in the Leo Reynolds

Gallery as well as Rachel Wakefield’s Southern Realism in the Second Floor Gallery.

Exhibits are free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. For more

information, contact museum staff at (256) 546-7365.