Join us for the FREE opening of a new display of work by Athens artist John McVicker.

Effective August 23, 2021, Stuart’s Opera House will require proof of full vaccination OR a negative COVID-19 test taken 72 hours or less prior to attending any event at Stuart’s Opera House. This requirement is for all audience, staff, special event staff, and performers. In addition to this change, all guests will be required to stay masked within all Stuart’s Opera House spaces. If you do not have a mask, one will be provided for you.

Everyone entering Stuart’s Opera House must show their legal identification along with a valid vaccination card or a legible image of their valid vaccination card.

Attendees who refuse to abide by this policy are welcome to transfer their tickets to guests who are fully vaccinated or willing to provide a negative COVID-19 test result.

We appreciate everyone’s willingness and cooperation as these new policies are necessary and essential to keep live performance happening and to keep our staff, artists, audience, and family members safe.

John McVicker’s gallery opening will take place from 5:30 to 7:30 on Friday, Oct. 29 in The Grand Lobby and 30 Public at Stuart’s Opera House.

From Monet to Degas, artists throughout history have been tasked with evolving their art as their vision changed and deteriorated. Athens-based artist John McVicker, born with severe nearsightedness and a “lazy eye”, is no exception.

The Stuart’s Opera House exhibition features McVicker’s work from 2017 to the present, during which time the artist underwent both glaucoma and cataract surgeries. Due to his deteriorating eyesight at that time, McVicker shifted from painting to a new picture-making experience–digital collage. Digital manipulation, allowed the artist to adjust size, brightness, and color onscreen compensating form his visual difficulties.

For McVicker,“Making pictures has always been about dealing with my visual limits, trying to make the best of them, and even more importantly trying to USE these limits to chase my own particular way of looking at things – my vision, if you like.”

Photo: Emily Votaw, WOUB

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

John McVicker has been making art for public and private spaces since he was in high school. His undergraduate degree was in Art with a concentration on painting, and began showing in galleries in New England shortly after graduation. He has shown work in Columbus, Athens, and Nelsonville, as well as in Boston and Amherst, Massachusetts, in New York, Saint Louis, and in Ghent, Belgium.

The exhibition, which includes works both painting and digital collage, is on view from October through December at Stuart’s Opera House.

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