Memorial Union will have two new art exhibits on display through September.

In the Pioneer Room will be Alexis Dwyer’s “On the Beaten Path.”

Dwyer’s inspiration came after several times of paddling creeks, biking on trails and walking through neighborhoods. While doing these activities, she would notice all of the waste and littering left by others. She started collecting all of these items and began thinking of ways to repurpose these items.

She begins with making a cyanotype, which is a photographic process that creates imagery in a white and indigo backdrop. There are enhanced printmaking techniques and hand-sewn objects on the tapestries. She takes trash and repurposes it into art on the tapestries to show the destructive and creative duality between nature and humankind.

Dwyer received her BFA in Photography and Printmaking at Columbia College in Missouri and her MFA in Integrated Visual Arts from Iowa State University. She now lives and works in Columbia, MO. her prints have been recognized and exhibited internationally and nationally.

The meet the artist reception with Dwyer will be on Thursday, Sept. 14 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

On display in the Gallery will be Kurt Ullrich’s “The Iowa State Fair” through Oct. 15.

Ullrich began portraying the Iowa State Fair in photos and words in 2013. In his book, The Iowa State Fair, the fair themes of, “history, sounds, animals, competition, commerce, and youth” depicted through black and white photographs. 

Ullrich is a photographer and writer that lives in Johnson County, Iowa. He has written tremendously for media organizations across the country and has been featured in the Chicago Tribune, the Des Moines Register, the Boston Globe, and the Washington Post and many more.

His book, “The Iowa State Fair”, can be found in Memorial Union at the University Book Store.

More information on the exhibits and viewing times can be found at www.mu.iastate.edu/exhibits.