DANBURY, CONN. — Western Connecticut State University will host a retrospective exhibition of Professor Emeritus Robert Alberetti’s art career in the Higgins Gallery in Higgins Hall on the university’s Midtown campus, 181 White St. in Danbury. The show, which will include paintings, prints and mixed media, opens Thursday, Feb. 23, and continues through Thursday, March 8, 2012.

A reception will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 23, in the Higgins Gallery. The exhibit will be open Mondays through Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The show is free and the public is invited.

Alberetti started his career at Massachusetts College of Art and Design where he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts. He continued to the Rhode Island School of Design, graduating with a master’s degree before moving on to Arizona State University where he achieved a Master of Fine Arts. His work has been shown nationally and internationally through solo and group exhibitions. Alberetti’s work also has been featured in museums such as the Panama Museum of Art, the De Young Museum, The Pentagon, the Mattatuck Museum and the Aldrich Museum.

When asked about his collage work, Alberetti said, “I seek to infuse my work with a spiritual and poetic sensibility and use landscape forms, rocks and ledges, plants and marshes as reference points. Light is also an important component as it affects space, mood and color.”

In a review of an exhibit at the University of New Haven Art Gallery, New Haven art critic Shirley Gonzales wrote, “Robert Alberetti … nearly steals the show with his small, selectively constructed collage works which evoke … climate and mood by the slenderest means and most subtle colors.”

Alberetti began his teaching career in 1963 at WCSU and retired as a full-time professor in 2003. During that time, he spent six years as chairperson of the WCSU art department. He continues to teach at WCSU as an emeritus adjunct professor in the undergraduate and M.F.A. programs. During his summers off from teaching, Alberetti teaches summer art programs in Petralonga and Urbino, Italy.

For more information, call (203) 837-8687.

Western Connecticut State University offers outstanding faculty in a range of quality academic programs. Our diverse university community provides students an enriching and supportive environment that takes advantage of the unique cultural offerings of Western Connecticut and New York. Our vision: To be an affordable public university with the characteristics of New England’s best small private universities.