McDonagh, Newman Exhibition Opens at Frits Van Eeden Gallery at Foosaner Education Center

MELBOURNE, FLA. — The Renee Foosaner Education Center of Florida Institute of Technology’s Foosaner Art Museum presents an exhibition of artist and sculptor Fahan Sky McDonagh and painter and printmaker Marlis Newman.

The exhibition, featuring sculptures in glass by McDonagh and acrylic paintings and monoprints by Newman, will be on view through Dec. 19 in the education center’s Frits Van Eeden Gallery. An opening reception will take place from 6:30-8 p.m. Oct. 3 in the gallery, 1520 Highland Ave., Melbourne. The event is open to the public and held in conjunction with the Eau Gallie Art District’s First Friday Art Walk.

Born in Chicago, McDonagh was raised mostly in Florida, though she later traveled extensively. Her parents encouraged her art as a child which ultimately led to a bachelor’s degree in painting from the University of Central Florida. Armed with her painting skills, she went to work painting on glass for a flameworker and she fell in love with glass.

“As a child, I began to observe closely. Intuitive looking has become my practice. I record my experiences and translate them into space,” McDonagh said. “By investigating form and space relationships created by light, I find magic; emptiness with purpose, a portal of transcendence, essential beauty.”

Fahan recently completed a Master’s of Fine Art degree specializing in glass from Rochester Institute of Technology. She is currently an instructor at the Foosaner Education Center.

Also born in Chicago, Newman later attended Iowa State University. As a Navy wife and mother of four, Newman and her family moved to the Melbourne area in the 1970s. It was at that time that she began exploring her love of art. She has yet to stop.

“During the course of more than 30 years of making art I have working in many media and I find the challenges in each exciting,” she said. “I have gradually moved away from impressionist and representational work and now also find excitement in working abstractly, depending on using the tools of art-making as well as intuition to reach the moment when the work speaks back to me.”

Newman has a long history at the Foosaner, teaching Oil, Acrylic, Pastel & Mixed Media from 1981 to 2006.

“It is a pleasure to have two strong female artists exhibiting in tandem at the education center,” said Curator of Education Sara Russo. “Their work explores light, movement, and pattern in complementary yet different ways. Additionally, each artist is an asset to our education program.”

The Frits Van Eeden Gallery is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call (321) 674-8923 or email education assistant Amanda Brinkman at abrinkma2007@fit.edu.

###