Into the Ashes presents an exhibition of drawings by artist and Wayne State College art faculty, J. Marlene Mueller. The exhibition opens on Monday, October 25, 2010 at the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts in Nebraska City.

Mueller’s exhibited charcoal drawings are based on experiences as a member of a volunteer fire department in northeast Nebraska. This position afforded her the opportunity to observe the characteristics of raging fires from a very near vantage point. The series on display at KHN depicts the controlled burn of a farm building and the escalating stages of the fire as flames and smoke consume the structure, which is eventually no more than a pile of ash. The charcoal drawings are derived from photographs taken by the artist and executed in a medium that speaks to the transformative qualities of fire.

J. Marlene Mueller is an artist and professor of art at Wayne State College in Wayne, Nebraska. She received an MFA and MA from Miami University in Oxford, OH and a BA from Limestone College in Gaffney, SC. She has had solo exhibitions at the Museum of Nebraska Art (Kearney, NE), Norfolk Art Center (Norfolk, NE), and G.A.R Gallery (Yankton, SD). In addition, her work has been included in group exhibitions at Jackson Artworks (Omaha, NE), Bemis Center for Contemporary Art (Omaha, NE), Modern Arts Midwest (Lincoln, NE), and the Sioux City Art Center (Sioux City, IA), to name a few.

The public is invited to meet J. Marlene Mueller and view her work at a reception on Thursday, November 4 from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. During the reception, KHN artists’ studio will be open and KHN resident artists on-hand to discuss their works in progress. Into the Ashes will remain on exhibit through Thursday, December 16, 2010.

The Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts is located at 801 3rd Corso in Nebraska City and is open Monday through Thursday from noon to 4 p.m. Appointments at other times are encouraged: please call ahead. Both the exhibit and the reception are free, handicapped accessible, and open to the public. For more information, call 402-874-9600 or visit www.khncenterforthearts.org.