Marianist brothers artwork pays tribute to Americana, landmarks

The four resident artists at Gallery Saint John’s brings unique interests and techniques. The exhibit highlights Brother Joe Barrish’s interest in architecture — especially old local architecture — and nature.

His art show, “Buildings, Barns & Bouquets,” includes paintings, reliefs and graphics celebrating local scenes and familiar images.

The subject of much of Barrish’s work is exaggerated images of Dayton’s architectural gems and reflects his concern about the loss of Americana to new development.

Along with documenting local architecture and scenery, Barrish spends several weeks annually visiting small towns and rural settings across the country to find inspiration for his artwork in watercolor and acrylics, multimedia collages and stained glass. He also is a printmaker, producing relief prints and serigraphs, as well as other print techniques.

Barrish’s work has been displayed in many galleries, including the IBM Gallery in New York City, The Circulating Gallery at the Dayton Art Institute and the Sentanta Gallery in Dublin, Ireland.

He taught art classes in grade school through high school and was an associate professor in the Fine Art Department at the University of Dayton for 20 years.

The free show at Gallery St. John runs through March 21.

The gallery is a nonprofit endeavor of the Society of Mary, which started in 1989 as an educational outreach.

Barrish, John Lemker, Charles Wanda and Don Smith are Marianist brothers who work out of Gallery St. John, which is located in St. Joseph Hall in the middle of the 40-acre Mount Saint John campus. The campus has entrances at 4400 Shakertown Road and 4435 E. Patterson Road.

Gallery hours are noon to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday and by appointment.

For more information or to make an appointment, call (937) 320-5404 or visit www.dayton-gallery-saintjohn.org/index.html.

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