Will the Circle Be Broken #2, 2014
“Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” a selection of collage works by artist and professor Nathan Skiles, will be on view through June 30 in the Crossroads Gallery at the Notre Dame Center for Arts and Culture.
Originally from Indiana, Skiles now works as a professor at the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida. He explains this most recent body of work as creating “a repository for diverse elements to co-exist and cross-contaminate in open-ended relationships” through collaging “symbolic motifs including heraldry, military and familial fabric patterns, quilting, and folk magic in the form of sacred geometry and Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs” on a round field.
These 12 round works reference rose or ocular stained glass windows often found in churches. Skiles has created two large versions of these metaphorical windows specifically for the exhibition. These rondo collages will structurally reference the north and south rose windows of Notre-Dame de Paris. Along with the structure of the cathedral’s windows, the works also reference more subtle elements such as the University’s blue and gold color scheme.
The Notre Dame Center for Arts and Culture is located at 1045 W. Washington St. in South Bend. For more information, visit artsandculture.nd.edu or call 574-631-5224.