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“Average Class Size,” an exhibition by Chris King, will be in the Glassblock Gallery in the Fred J. Taylor Library and Technology Center at the University of Arkansas at Monticello from February 13 through March 11.

King will deliver an artist’s talk on Tuesday, February 13, at 1:30 p.m. in the Visual and Performing Arts Complex at UAM. The artist’s talk will be followed by an opening reception for the exhibition in the Glassblock Gallery from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. The exhibition and events are free and open to the public.

The artworks in this exhibition are mixed media pieces that address issues of the role of an artist and educator in this era of school violence.

King is a multimedia artist and educator based in Louisiana and originally from Massachusetts. He received his BFA in sculpture and art education degree from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, followed by his MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. His work explores themes of displacement, injustice, immigration and social ailments through painting, sculpture, printmaking and drawing. King’s artwork has been exhibited in galleries and museums nationally, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, California, The Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans, Louisiana, and the Acadiana Center for the Arts in Lafayette, Louisiana.

In 2010, King was commissioned by the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library in Indianapolis, Indiana, to create several large paintings celebrating the author’s life. King has also participated in a variety of artist residency programs, including the 2014 Arctic Circle Artist & Scientist Residency Program, where he lived and worked with a group of international artists while on a month-long sailing expedition to the North Pole. In 2021, King collaborated with Nigerian artist Oba Moyosade during a virtual residency program connecting eight American artists with eight artists from around the world.

In 2008, after working in Los Angeles for fifteen years, King moved to Natchitoches, Louisiana, where he lives today and is the head of the Visual Arts Program and gallery director at the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts.

The Glassblock Gallery’s hours are Mondays from 9 to 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1:30 to 3 p.m.; Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.; and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.