Community Arts Gallery 150 Community Arts Building Detroit, MI 48202 (313) 993-7813 Exhibition: MFA Thesis Exhibition I: Alana Bartol and Bernie Brooks Dates: January 11 – February 15, 2008 Opening: Friday, January 11, 5 – 8 pm Hours: Tuesdays – Thursdays 10AM-6PM and Fridays 10AM-7PM Contact: Lisa Baylis Gonzalez or Stephany Sowards at (313) 577-0770

The Community Arts Gallery will present MFA Thesis Exhibition I: Alana Bartol and Bernie Brooks from Friday, January 11 through Friday, February 15, 2008. At the completion of their Master of Fine Arts degree programs at Wayne State University (WSU), Bartol and Brooks exhibit work that serves as a summation of their graduate experiences. Their insightful and finely produced works illustrate why Wayne is considered as one of the top fine arts graduate programs in Michigan.

Alana Bartol was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She completed a BFA in Visual Arts at the University of Windsor and is currently completing her MFA in Sculpture at Wayne State University where she developed and taught Special Topics in Sculpture: Performance Art. Her work sensitizes the viewer to the natural and the artificial constructs of North American culture and society. She has developed several collaborative, community-building projects -- such as The Detroit Windsor Journal Project, The Bud Project and The Detroit Diamonds Project -- that illuminate the potential for transformation and communication through art.

Bernard Brooks is an artist residing relatively close to the banks of the Detroit River. He grew up a short bike ride from Lake St. Clair, and has since lived near a number of fairly substantial bodies of water, including the Thames, Tiber, Potomac, and Charles Rivers, the Mediterranean and North Seas, and the Atlantic Ocean. He matriculated at Alma College, on the less substantial Pine River, where he studied History, Fine Art, and Art History. After spending some time abroad, he returned to the Great Lakes to complete his MFA at Wayne State University. Brooks lives with his wife, two cats, and a dog in a fine old home with a basement that regularly floods.

The opening reception is on Friday, January 11, from 5:00 to 8:00 PM, and is free and open to the general public. Community Arts Gallery is located in the Community Arts Building at 450 Reuther Mall, near Cass and Kirby.