The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University is featuring a solo exhibition of recent work by a member of the class of 1967 who is also an internationally recognized portrait painter and photographer.
Annette Polan: Covert Autobiography is on display in the Wilson and Ballator-Thompson Galleries through Sunday, September 17.
The exhibition features an unusual combination of media including sculpture, painting, drawing, mixed media, and videos. It “incorporates images of nature to explore issues of gender and age in our culture as well as in [Polan’s] own life. It investigates aspects of a single, mature woman who although powerful and confident, can feel disenfranchised, invisible, or muffled.”
Polan studied at the Tyler School of Art, Corcoran College of Art and Design, and École du Louvre. A noted instructor of contemporary American portraiture, she painted the official portraits of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, former West Virginia Governor Gaston Caperton, and other leaders of government and industry.
Polan chaired and founded Faces of the Fallen, an exhibition of 1,323 portraits by 230 American artists that honored American service members who died in Afghanistan and Iraq between October 10, 2001, and November 11, 2004. In recognition of her leadership on that project, she was awarded the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Outstanding Public Service Award.
The Wilson Museum is open Tuesday – Sunday, noon – 5 p.m., and Thursday, noon – 8 p.m. Admission is always free.
