MONMOUTH, Ill. — An exhibition featuring the ceramic sculptures and large, mixed-media drawings of South Carolina artist Nathan J. Cox will be displayed Jan. 12 through Feb. 6 in Monmouth College’s Len G. Everett Gallery in Hewes Library.

An artist’s reception will be held Feb. 6 at 3 p.m. in the gallery. Both the exhibition and the reception are free and open to the public.

Cox, an assistant professor of art at Anderson (S.C.) College, formerly served as a lecturer and visiting assistant professor of art at Monmouth College during the 2002-03 academic year. He received a B.F.A. degree in ceramics, drawing and design from Millikin University in 1997 and an M.F.A. degree in ceramics and drawing from Bradley University in 2000.

In addition to teaching at Monmouth and Anderson, Cox has also served on the faculty at Western Illinois University, Bradley University, Carl Sandburg College, Illinois Central College, Millikin University and the Decatur Area Arts Council.

Cox has had numerous solo exhibitions in South Carolina and Illinois and has been involved with other selected exhibitions throughout the U.S.

“I am a builder, and for as long as I can remember, I always have been,” said Cox. “Whether I am constructing a ceramic vessel, or orchestrating a mixed-media work on paper, each piece of art has a sense of being made from various parts and materials, or layers of imagery and meaning. My goal is always for the whole to be greater than the sum of its parts.”

As for some of the drawings in his exhibition at the college, Cox said the tools and other icons in his drawings are often symbols of himself or others and represent his own personal experiences. “I hope you will ask yourself, for example, what a honeybee could have in common with a hammer, and what either might have in common with me, or with you. I want you, as an active viewer, to assemble some of the meaning from the various layers of text and imagery, just as I have assembled the physical objects from different sources.”

Continued Cox, “In the end, some of the ‘work’ in any piece of artwork must always be left up to the viewer. Just as the artist must evaluate himself while working, in order to create the art object, the viewer must participate while evaluating, in order to create the art experience. Art that lends itself to the viewer’s own creative experience is what I work toward.”