Exhibition: Real Artists / Real Estate November 3, 2005

An exhibition by photographer Vance Gellert, titled ?Real Artists/Real Estate,? will open on Friday, Nov. 4, at Carleton College?s Boliou Hall Art Gallery. As part of the opening, the artist will give a talk, also titled ?Real Artists/Real Estate,? at 7 p.m. in Boliou Hall, Room 104. A reception will follow. The exhibition and opening events are free and open to the public.

The exhibition invites visitors to consider and embrace the continuum that is art, from the simplest line drawing to the most complicated architectural structure.

Gellert says that the challenge in creating the exhibition was to find and make visible the creative spirit of self-taught artists through interviews, portraits, their art and the landscape near where they live. ?One of my goals is to show that art and creativity is a basic element of human nature?we all have it. Why it expresses itself in the range of creative expression we see, from the most accomplished and conceptual artists to those people from which no creative output is apparent, is one of life?s mysteries.?

Gellert earned his bachelor?s degree in physiology and his doctorate in pharmacology from the University of Minnesota. He has received many awards and recognition for his work nationally and internationally. He was Bush Foundation Leadership Fellow finalist in 2000 and was awarded McKnight Foundation Photography Fellowships in 1991 and 1995. He is the founder and executive director of pARTS Gallery of Photographic Arts in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities' only nonprofit arts organization dedicated to photography.

The exhibition will run from Nov. 4 through December 18. The Carleton College Boliou Hall Art Gallery is open daily. The hours are Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Fridays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m. and Sundays from 1 to 10 p.m. For more information or disability accommodations, call the Carleton art and art history department at (507) 646-4341.