Marshall University’s Department of Art and Design will present an exhibition of artwork by the late Stanley Sporny, a longtime Marshall faculty member, in the Birke Art Gallery beginning today and continuing through Thursday, Sept. 3.

The opening exhibit of the fall semester, “Stanley Sporny Paintings,” will feature numerous oil paintings from the artist’s River series – many completed in 2008 – as well as other select artworks spanning the past 25 years. Several watercolor paintings will also be on view, some of which have never before been publicly displayed.

Sporny, who passed away unexpectedly in October 2008, was a professor with MU’s College of Fine Arts for 20 years.

“To his students, Stan Sporny was more than a professor of painting,” Don Van Horn, dean of the College of Fine Arts, said. “He taught them more than just art. Stan was a philosopher and his provocative discourse helped students come to understand themselves better. He was helping shape the entire individual and preparing the student for life and its varied challenges.”

Organizing this show was particularly meaningful for Birke Art Gallery director John Farley.

“Stanley Sporny spent his life as an artist, teacher, mentor, inventor, musician, entrepreneur and a true visionary,” Farley said. “As a former student, colleague and friend of Stan, it is an honor and a privilege to be involved in this exhibition.”

Sporny studied at the Philadelphia College of Art from 1964 through 1968 and earned his M.F.A. at the University of Pennsylvania where he studied from 1969 to 1972 while under the direction of celebrated artists Neil Welliver, Alex Katz, Alice Neel and Elaine de Kooning.

The graduating representative for the University of Pennsylvania, he spent the summer of 1972 at the prestigious Skowhegan School in Maine. He then traveled on a Fulbright Grant to Sri Lanka, taught at various universities and was a veteran of more than 40 solo exhibitions with work held in many prominent galleries, private collections and museums throughout the nation.

College of Fine Arts alumnus Chris Worth described what viewers can expect to see at the Stanley Sporny Paintings exhibit as visually beautiful and personally moving.

“In my mind this is a show about the colors of man’s deepest nature,” Worth said. “The work is bold in color as well as brush stroke. You can’t help but be transported to the place of inspiration for Stan Sporny. In the moment that we enter into the place of the artist, he joins us, and we are witness to only the smallest part of a brilliant mind.”

Farley echoed Worth’s sentiments.

“It is a truly fantastic display of paintings, and particularly poignant for those of us so influenced by his teachings and outlook on art and life,” Farley said. “In addition to numerous oil paintings, we are fortunate enough to have several watercolors, some of which have never before been publicly displayed. [It is] definitely not an event to be missed.”

The exhibition will culminate with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 1. Peter Massing, professor of printmaking at Marshall University, will lead an informal discussion of Sporny and his work.

For more information, contact Jaye Ike, Special Projects Coordinator for the College of Fine Arts, by phone at 304-696-3296 or by e-mail at jaye.ike@marshall.edu