The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University will open an exhibition Thursday by three artists tackling a nautical theme in felt cutouts, charcoal drawings and motorized sculptures.

Wilson Museum director Amy Moorefield describes “Echo Sounding: Liz Miller, Younseal Eum, Huguette Despault May ” as a three-part show about “how contemporary artists are looking at our relationship to marine life and to nautical elements and transforming them into works of art.”

Minnesota-based artist Liz Miller creates large sculptures using pieces of stiffened felt. The individual pieces are usually cut in shapes that reflect the theme of the sculpture.

Miller is creating an installation in the form of an ocean wave that will fill the museum’s largest gallery, to be called “Deep Six (Crimson).” The red and black pieces it’s made from recall jellyfish and other sea creatures.

Previous examples of Miller’s style include “Ballistic Boondoggle,” a large assembly shown last year at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Union Gallery that resembled an immense cobweb, but with individual pieces cut in the shapes of various firearms.

A Korean artist who’s previously resided in Blacksburg and Richmond, Younseal Eum creates delicate kinetic sculptures with motorized parts. Eum currently works for a robotic toy company in South Korea.

Moorefield said she first encountered Eum’s work in 2011 at the William King Museum in Abingdon. Eum’s piece in that show was a glass partially filled with water etched with a sailing ship. A motorized wire device attached to the glass caused it to rock so that the water inside mimicked the motion of waves.

Eum’s installation for “Echo Sounding” will be called “Dream Fishing.” She uses wires, balloons and fans to create toy fish that seem to swim through the air, their movements surprisingly realistic, around a mobile of a man fishing.

New Bedford, Mass., artist Huguette Despault May has created a series of large photorealistic charcoal drawings of hawser line — a type of rope used to moor or tow ships. The vantage points of all the drawings involve extreme close-ups, reminiscent of American artist Georgia O’Keeffe’s extreme close-ups of flowers.

“It’s looking at systems in nature and systems we create to harness nature,” Moorefield said.

At 6 p.m. Thursday, Miller will speak about “Deep Six (Crimson)” in the university’s Frances J. Niederer Auditorium, with a reception to follow in the museum.

Eum will give a presentation about “Dream Fishing” at 6 p.m. Feb. 21 in room 119 of the Richard Wetherill Visual Arts Center.

“Echo Sounding” will be on display through March 2.

The museum’s hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free. For more information, call 362-6532 or visit hollins.edu/museum/index.shtml.

Center meets goals

Drive by Center in the Square’s Campbell Avenue building right now, and it certainly doesn’t look finished.

However, Center has met the goals needed to receive a certificate of occupancy from the city, and to qualify for the crucial federal and state tax credits that help fund the $27 million project.

“All the requirements from our end have been met as of Dec. 31,” said Center President and General Manager Jim Sears. On that day, assessors walked through the building and prepared a document called a “letter of substantial completion,” listing the features that could qualify for tax credits. That letter is being reviewed by an accountant to determine the amount Center ultimately can receive.

The certificate of occupancy was awarded Dec. 28, Sears said.

The three museums housed in the building — the History Museum of Western Virginia, Science Museum of Western Virginia and Harrison Museum of African American Culture — will need to obtain building permits for their own individual renovations and exhibition set-ups before they can begin moving in, he said.

Between those efforts and finishing touches that Center still needs to complete, construction will continue in the Campbell Avenue building for a while yet, Sears said. Center’s grand opening remains scheduled for May.

Arts grants available for Roanoke parks programs

The Roanoke Arts Commission is seeking grant applications from artists and performance groups for the development of family-friendly, educational programs to be put on in Roanoke neighborhoods this summer and early fall .

Two types of grants are available: for performing arts (which includes musicians, vocalists, dancers and actors) and visual arts (which is open to artists in any medium). Applicants must also submit program cost estimates. Applications will be reviewed by a committee that will include visual and performing artists.

Venues for possible performances include Kennedy Park, Eureka Park, Jackson Park, Highland Park, Washington Park, and Mill Mountain Park.

Roanoke Symphony Orchestra will be in charge of organizing programming, as well as contracting and paying artists and groups with successful applications. The entire venture is funded by a $50,000 National Endowment for the Arts grant awarded jointly to the city and RSO.

The deadline to apply is Jan. 31. Applications can be downloaded at roanokeva.gov/publicart. For more information, call Roanoke Arts and Culture Coordinator Susan Jennings at 853-5652 or email her at susan.jennings@roanokeva.gov.

Classical in Covington

The Davidson College Symphony Orchestra and the Davidson College Jazz Ensemble will give a free concert at 4 p.m. today at First Presbyterian Church at Maple Avenue and Locust Street in Covington. The program will include excerpts from Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade” and an orchestral arrangement of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music.” For more information, call Sara Lu Snyder at 862-4320.

Little Town Players holding auditions

Little Town Players is holding auditions 7 p.m. today and Monday in the Elks National Home Theatre in Bedford for its upcoming production of the country club farce “The Fox on the Fairway.”

Parts are available for three women and three men ages 25 to 60. For more information, email director Karen Hopkins at kchop64@yahoo.com.

On the Arts blog

The Montgomery Museum and Lewis Miller Regional Art Center in Christiansburg will hold a reception 5 p.m. Thursday for a collection of digital photographs documenting Montgomery County. For more information and other arts and culture news, visit the Arts & Extras blog at blogs.roanoke.com/arts.

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