Join the LSU School of Art Glassell Gallery for an exciting new exhibition,Eric Avery, M.D.—HIV/AIDS: Witness, Healer, Survivor.The exhibition will runOctober 28–December 7, 2014, with an opening reception at the Glassell Gallery onThursday, October 30, from 6–8 p.m.All events are free and open to the public.

The gallery space will be transformed by the deeply personal and moving work of Eric Avery.Avery's prints are not confined to flat paper.He uses printmaking techniques in innovative ways, by printing on molded paper, piñatas, vessels, and books as well as posters.This show will follow a historical timeline of HIV/AIDS, spanning the years from the early discovery of HIV in the 1980s to works created in 2014 reflecting the current state of medical advances and global impact in the 21st century.

Eric Avery is a physician, psychiatrist, and printmaker.His social content prints explore issues such as human rights and social responses to disease, death, sexuality, and the body.His experiences as a doctor in Indonesia (1979) and the Las Dhure Refugee Camp in Somalia (1980–81) inspired him to create artworks based on his witness of profound human suffering.Avery produces art in the tradition of a journalist.He maintains a direct emotional involvement with his subjects that is devoid of sentimentality.His clinical art medicine practice in art institutions has given form to the liminal space between art and medicine.His prints have been collected and exhibited in museums and galleries across the United States, including Smith College Art Museum!Baltimore Art Museum!the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University!Firestone Library at Princeton University; the Library of Congress!ARS MEDICA Collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art!Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia!Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC!Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Texas!the Boston Museum of Art!the National Library of Medicine!and The Cushing/Whitney Medical Library at Yale University School of Medicine.In England, his work is included in the Wellcome Trust Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine.

Dr.Avery's lifetime commitment to documenting and creating works based on his experiences makes him a very relevant and important visitor to the Baton Rouge community.Baton Rouge has an extremely high rate of HIV/AIDS, and this exhibition will shed some light on the cause and conditions of this disease while educating citizens about this illness.One way to fight and eventually overcome high rates of infection is to face the problem and work together to treat its causes.This exhibition will provide historical context, practical solutions, and inspiration.Mayor Kip Holden has recognized the importance of this visit by declaring that October 26–November 1, 2014, is Baton Rouge Aids Week.In addition, October 29, 2014, is Eric Avery MD Day!

A series of events are scheduled for the week of October 28–November 1, 2014.Dr.Avery will travel to LSU to meet and work with Professor Leslie Koptcho and her students in printmaking.They will create a new printed book in collaboration with Dr.Avery.The book, in limited editions, will be available for purchase.Additionally,Dr.Avery will give a public lecture on Wednesday, October 29, at 5 p.m.in the  Design Building Auditorium (room 103) on LSU's campus.On Thursday, October 30, from 6–8 p.m., the Glassell Gallery invites you to celebrate the exhibition,Eric Avery, M.D.—HIV/AIDS: Witness, Healer, Survivor, with Dr.Avery.And on November 1, at the Louisiana Book Festival in downtown Baton Rouge, Dr.Avery will be working with LSU printmaking students and the One of One Printmaking Club in front of the State Library.

The LSU School of Art Glassell Gallery has joined with local HIV education and service providers—the Volunteers of America of Greater Baton Rouge and HAART—to make Dr.Avery available to their clients during his visit.HAART is sponsoring a World Aids Day poster contest for area graphic design students from the Baton Rouge Community College, Baton Rouge High, and the LSU School of Art.The winning posters will be on display next to Dr.Avery's work in the Glassell Gallery beginning on World Aids Day, December 1, through December 7, 2014, the end of the exhibition.A World Aids Day reception will be held in the Glassell Gallery on December 1 from 6–8 p.m.The Manship Theatre will be hosting events for World Aids Day, as well.