"Internal Medicine by Rosemary Feit Covey" exhibit honors Virginia Tech alumnus
The Perspective Gallery in Squires Student Center on the Virginia Tech campus is exhibiting "Internal Medicine by Rosemary Feit Covey" Oct. 13 through Nov. 14.
An opening reception with the artist will be held in the gallery Tuesday, October 13, from 4 to 6 p.m. The university and surrounding community are invited to take part. The exhibit and reception, which will include music and a reading, are free of charge and open to the public.
Covey brings her emotionally charged wood engravings to Virginia Tech in part to honor the life of the late David Craig Welch, a Virginia Tech alumnus whose struggle with brain cancer is documented in her works. Welch received a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial and systems engineering in the college of engineering in 1991. He commissioned this body of work shortly after being diagnosed with a brain tumor and undergoing major surgery to remove portions of the tumor.
Covey will attend the opening reception Oct. 13 in the gallery. The reception will also include a reading by author Karen Sosnoski, whose book-in-progress, When Birdboy Calls, follows what she calls Welch’s “unsettling, revelatory quest for a new identity through art.” Music for the reception will be provided by the brass quartet Welch founded in 1989 while a student at Virginia Tech. The group will be led by Wallace E. Easter II of Blacksburg, Va., associate professor of music in the college of liberal arts and human sciences.
Covey explained the genesis of the project: "David Craig Welch commissioned this body of work shortly after being diagnosed with a brain tumor and undergoing major surgery to remove portions of the tumor. David primarily sought to create a visual understanding of his ongoing experiences, both personal and beyond. While minimal formal direction was given, David gave freely of himself, his thoughts, his writings and access to his medical procedures and doctors."
Before his death on Jan. 8, 2009, Welch wrote on his blog about the development of his relationship with the artist: “When I approached Rosemary about this project, I told her that the process was more important to me than the final product. This is because artists are some of the most fun and interesting people in the world to me, and Rosemary is a quintessential example among many. I love to see the world through the lens of an artist. It is also wonderful that the artistic results of our collaboration have lasting value to each of us -- and others, as well. This makes such experiences that much more fulfilling and new friendships richer”.
Sosnoski, a widely published writer and filmmaker, became involved in 2006, when she interviewed Welch perfunctorily as a minor subject of an independent documentary film on Covey. She found herself gripped by the mystery of Welch’s radical desire to turn life, body, and brain inside-out for Art. “Beyond the narrative of David and Rosemary, I explore the potentials and pitfalls of deep collaboration between faith and doubt, medicine and art, the scientific and the spiritual -- between living with and dying from disease,” Sosnoski said.
Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Rosemary Feit Covey lives in Alexandria, Va., where she maintains a studio at the Torpedo Factory Art Center . Covey has exhibited both in the United States and internationally, including solo exhibitions in Argentina, Switzerland, the Butler Institute of American Art, as well as other solo and group exhibitions. Her work is represented in the collections of the Corcoran Gallery of Art; the New York Public Library Collection of Prints and Drawings; the Papyrus Institute, Cairo, Egypt; the National Library of Australia, Canberra; The National Museum of American History; Georgetown University Library Print Collection; Harvard University Library; and Princeton University Library.
Covey was a 1998 recipient of a Rockefeller Foundation Grant and has been commissioned by The New York Times and The Washington Post and has illustrated many books. Covey has given lectures at universities in China, Interlochen Center for the Arts, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the University of Wyoming, the International Monetary Fund, as well as other institutions in this country and abroad. While at Virginia Tech, Covey will present a lecture to an engineering class.
The Perspective Gallery, on the second floor of Squires Student Center, is free and open to the public. For more information on the Perspective Gallery, call gallery director Mary Tartaro at (540) 231-4053. The Perspective Gallery is open Tuesday-Thursday, noon to 5 p.m.; Friday noon to 7 p.m.; and Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. The gallery is closed Sunday and Monday.
The exhibit “Internal Medicine by Rosemary Feit Covey” is sponsored by Virginia Tech’s University Unions and Student Activities. University Unions and Student Activities, a unit within the Division of Student Affairs (http://www.dsa.vt.edu/) at Virginia Tech, complements the academic program by providing a variety of activities, educational opportunities, programs, facilities, and services that enhance student development and enrich the quality of campus life at Virginia Tech.
With a visitor’s pass, parking is available in the Squires Lot, located at the corner of College Avenue and Otey Street, or the Shultz Hall Lot, located off Alumni Drive near the North Main Street campus entrance. Parking meters within the Squires Lot will need to be paid. A visitor’s pass may be obtained Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Visitor Information Center, located on Southgate Drive
Free parking is available in the Squires Lot, located at the corner of College Avenue and Otey Street, or the Shultz Hall Lot, located off Alumni Drive near the North Main Street campus entrance after 5 p.m. on weekdays and on weekends. Find more parking information online or call (540) 231-3200.
