Opening Reception: ‘Imaginary Concrete’ by Elise Schweitzer, Artist-in-Residence

Opening Reception: April 1 5-7 p.m. • Gallery Talk at 6 p.m. Barton Art Galleries invites the public to the opening reception for Imaginary Concrete, an exhibition featuring works by Spring 2027 Artist-in-Residence Elise Schweitzer. The reception will be held from 5–7 p.m. on April 1 in the Barton Art Galleries at Case Art, with a gallery talk by the artist at 6 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Through abstraction, Schweitzer’s paintings observe, transform, and participate in the material world. Driven by intuition, experimentation, direct observation, and the reinterpretation of artifice, her practice explores relationships among objects, experience, and memory. The forms that emerge in her work reflect a sustained engagement with diverse ways of seeing and feeling, using painting as a means of understanding and caring for the world. Schweitzer is an associate professor of art at Hollins University. She earned an MFA from Indiana University Bloomington, a Certificate in Painting from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and a BFA from the University of Pennsylvania. Based in Roanoke, Virginia, she serves as Barton College’s Spring 2027 Artist-in-Residence, working with students and community members through educational programming and hands-on workshops from March 29 through April 10. Community workshops will be held on Saturday, April 3, and Saturday, April 10, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Workshops are $50 per person and are free for Friends of Visual Arts (FOVA) members. Imaginary Concrete will be on view in the Barton Art Galleries at Case Art from March 29 through April 23, 2027.