By: Peyton Saunders | Staff Writer
A University of Lynchburg professor is inviting students to wrestle with one of philosophy’s most enduring metaphors, and they have until April 1 to do it.
Allen TenBusschen, artist and Assistant Professor of Art at the University of Lynchburg, currently has his exhibition “Sisyphus” on display at the Daura Museum of Art. The show opened with a reception on Thursday, March 19, beginning at 4 p.m., just after the afternoon’s Doggies on the Dell festivities wrapped up on campus.
Daura Museum Director Brooke Marcy acknowledged the exhibition’s compressed run, noting she had limited space in the calendar between the previous show and the upcoming senior exhibition. Even so, she made clear the work was worth the slot. “It’s just a profound show, a beautiful show,” Marcy said. “I think it’s a show with an amazing amount of depth.”
At 5 p.m., TenBusschen addressed guests, explaining why the myth of Sisyphus resonates so deeply with his practice. He pointed to Albert Camus’s essay The Myth of Sisyphus as a touchstone. “One of the reasons I love Sisyphus and the story of Sisyphus is an Albert Camus book or essay, if you will, called ‘The Myth of Sisyphus,’ which suggests that the meaning doesn’t come from some higher external space, but how we engage with existence itself,” he said. “As humans, we create clarity, structure, and purpose.”
TenBusschen described the act of completing a piece of art as both a relief and a return to the beginning, finishing one work only to feel the pull of starting another, much like Sisyphus watching the boulder roll back to the base of the hill. Camus’s reframing of that endless cycle, he said, has helped him find fulfillment rather than frustration in the repetition.
That humility extends to how TenBusschen sees himself. Despite a strong reception from attendees, several of whom purchased works on opening night, TenBusschen and freshman student Aszter Hitchcock both noted that he often views himself as a mediocre artist. In a way, that self-assessment mirrors the myth: no matter how many times the boulder is pushed, it is still the same boulder on the same hill.
For TenBusschen, the Daura show is not a debut. Several works in “Sisyphus” were also featured in his December exhibition, “Metaphorical Ambiguity and Other Mysteries,” at the Steven Francis Fine Art Gallery, which ran from December 5 through January 3. Former student Lily Beth Norris, who attended the Daura opening, had also interviewed TenBusschen ahead of that earlier show.
That exhibition was mounted alongside work by Georgia Morgan, the University of Lynchburg’s first art department chair, who served from 1915 to 1945 and founded the Lynchburg Art Club.
Students interested in seeing “Sisyphus” should plan their visit before April 1. TenBusschen hinted, however, that the exhibition may find a home in at least one more gallery before it’s fully put to rest.
The exhibition features a few of the sketches that went on to become full-color pieces in the exhibition. “The Quiet Work of the Knife” by Allen TenBusschen.
Artist Allen TenBusschen (right) was introduced by Director of the Daura Museum of Art Brooke Marcy (left) and former student Lily Beth Norris (middle). Photo by Peyton Saunders.
Opening night of the exhibition featured cookies, water, fruit, and crackers shaped like butterflies. Photo by Peyton Saunders.
Allen TenBusschen said that many of these pieces follow a theme of one being alive and the other dead. “Allechory” by Allen TenBusschen.
TenBusschen noted that there is an intentional tension in this piece. “Fallacy of Balance” by Allen TenBusschen.
On the other side of the gallery is an exhibition of Georgia Morgan’s work, the first chair of the art department at the University of Lynchburg. Photo by Peyton Saunders.
