The Alva de Mars Megan Chapel Art Center is Saint Anselm College's gallery for the exhibition of fine art.
Founded in 1967, this facility provides a gracious setting for special exhibitions and houses a permanent collection of artworks. It welcomes the campus and general public with exhibitions throughout the academic year.
Contact
Email:ChapelArtCenter@anselm.edu
Phone: 603-641-7470
Location: Alumni Hall, first floor
Office Hours: Mon.–Fri.: 8:30 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
Gallery Hours (when an exhibit is open)
Tue.–Fri.: 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
Thu. evenings: 4:00–7:00 p.m.
About the Chapel Art Center
The Alva de Mars Megan Chapel Art Center is Saint Anselm College's gallery for the exhibition of fine art. Founded in 1967, this facility provides a gracious setting for special exhibitions and houses a permanent collection of artworks. It welcomes the campus and general public with exhibitions throughout the academic year.
Formerly the college's chapel, the Chapel Art Center maintains a beautifully decorated vaulted ceiling with allegorical lunettes painted by Father Raphael Pfisterer, O.S.B. (1877-1942) and magnificent stained glass windows. Its uniquely serene ambiance and rich historical significance make for the perfect cultural setting. As a center for the promotion of the fine arts, exhibitions coincide with lectures, tours, concerts, and recitals.
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Exhibitions
Current Exhibition
Woman as Artist/Woman as Subject
On view November 15 - December 6, January 21 - February 14
The Chapel Art Center is very pleased to host Woman as Artist, Woman as Subject in recognition of the 50th anniversary of Saint Anselm College’s fully co-educational programs inaugurated in 1973-1974. Modeled on previous exhibitions from the not-too-distant past (Reverie, Realizing a Collection 2014-2015 and A Figural Presence 2009), this exhibition recognizes and celebrates the College’s progressive change to greatly expand women’s population in our community.
The introduction of women modernists into the permanent collection, some twenty years ago, seemed a logical and intriguing launching point for the selection of works exhibited here. Names such as Elizabeth Grandin (Portrait of a Lady in Lilac and Gold) and Mabel May Woodward (Street Scene in Chester, Nova Scotia) are now signature works within the permanent collection. Marian Wardle’s publication American Women Modernists: The Legacy of Robert Henri, 1910-1945 acknowledges the significant contribution of women artists under Henri’s tutelage, encouraging American women to pursue professional careers in prominent studios and schools.
We have invited four contemporary figurative women artists known to us by way of previous exhibitions and collegial connections, including Sylvia Nicolas, New Hampshire’s Lotti Jacobi Living Treasure 2019, and longtime artistic presence at Saint Anselm College and Abbey, Patricia Schappler, Katherine Doyle, and Suzanne Schireson. They represent the enduring spirit of traditional approaches to the human figure, as well as the astonishing innovation that accompanies the poetry of true expression. We thank our four visiting artists immensely for their work and their generosity in lending to this exhibition.