Celebration of Learning 2018: Senior Art Show
AUGUSTANA TEACHING MUSEUM OF ART, CENTENNIAL HALL
Featured Artist presentations,10:45-11:15 a.m.
Senior Student Art shows and discussions, 11:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m.
Brianna Jepson and Christine Marchi, the 2018 featured artists, will introduce the Senior Art Inquiry session of the Department of Art’s Celebration of Learning. Following the featured speakers, all seniors completing Senior Inquiry this year in art and graphic design will be present to discuss their process and results in poster-like sessions.
Brianna Jepson
Project advisor: Megan Quinn, art
Movements
My work consists of five ceramic pieces that each represent a human torso and that follow the movement and texture of nature. The pieces are inspired by the natural movement found in nature, valleys, canyons and rivers. Each piece has unique textures and movements carved into the clay. The pieces fit together to represent the course of a river or a crevice in a canyon. As one, the pieces create their own movement and texture to represent a landscape. Inspiration for my work comes from my connection with nature through running and spending time outside. I have been a long-distance runner for eight years and learned to appreciate the beauty of nature. Running has taught me to find beauty in the movements of running through various landscapes and seasons. I feel the most connected to nature when I am running outside and experiencing the movement of my body and the movements of the elements around me. My work was influenced by the ceramicist Adriane Arleo and her work with nature and human figures. Arleo’s work exemplifies a visual relationship between humans and nature. I aim to create the essence of my feeling for the unity I find between nature and humans.
Christine Marchi
Project advisors: Peter Xiao, Vickie Phipps, art
Of Dragons and Daydreams
Have you ever gotten caught in a daydream? One that flows through your mind on a whim, taking your stream of conscious hostage? Have you ever run along with that dream? Let it grow and blossom into a network as your mind passes through colors and feelings beyond what any reality could give you, only to be brought back by a sharp slap on your desk as your professor snaps you out of this enticing realm of thought? These thoughts and feelings are how my art comes to be. Some rogue emotion gone wild with a mind of its own, until it’s just too big to keep contained any longer, so the idea gets rendered on paper. Physical images of how I have felt or depictions of characters that had decided to take my mind for a ride. These characters are the main drive of my artistic process, inspired by dragons, epic fantasy, and the beauty I find in the vast unknown reaches of outer space. Each character is unique and comes with its own story. I favor some over others, but when it comes down to it each one represents a piece of who I am, hidden or visible to a stranger's eye. Graphite has always been my preferred medium, however its monochrome tendencies failed to show how my thoughts tend to come in bursts of color. So why not let your mind wander amongst the colors for a time, and come explore the realm of dragons and daydreams.
Comet J. Blecha
Project advisor: Vickie Phipps, art
The Audience
The inspiration of this project came from Japanese Kabuki theater, where the audience draws from the live action in front of them. In Kabuki theater, there is a fluidity between the audience and actors through the experience they share. I wanted to achieve a similar outcome by drawing my experiences at concerts and events that I attended and produced them as future posters. I was also influenced by the work of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, who is known for his posters of Can-Can dancers. He created posters to advertise upcoming events and his work shared many similarities with Japanese ukiyo-e prints. These shared elements—flat color, tilted perspective, outlines and everyday subject matter—interested me and my love for graphic design. This project was a way for me to get back to my roots of drawing and working slowly, while also being able to utilize my graphic design skills. Half of the posters you see here are the original works in black and white and the other half consist of posters that were cleaned up and colored digitally. This investigation was about the value of human experience and hand-drawn works. In John Maeda’s book, The Laws of Simplicity, he states “some things can never be made simple,” and you fail, but failure is a part of learning. In our society we are taught that value is placed on time, and that time is money. However, we are not taught to value human interaction in the same way. Instead we learn that in the workplace, human interaction is a distraction. I believe there is a notion of the subjective that should be valued. Therefore, I created a series of hand-drawn works that represents some of my own experiences of working slowly.
Grace Iaquinta
Project advisor: Vickie Phipps, art
Here
Each generation has brought a new, more complex response to the question: What does it mean to be here? The implications of being present have evolved with the intensification of technology and our attachment, even dependence, on it. This piece investigates the dynamism of what it means to be present, to be still, and to be engaged.
Rebecca Kelly
Project advisors: Megan Quinn, Peter Xiao, Vickie Phipps, art
Senior Art Show
Art is intimate and involves closeness and understanding with one’s self, as well as the materials. As a ceramic artist, I aim to capture emotions and experiences that are personal yet universal, and beckon the viewer to come closer. I combine wheel-throwing with hand-building aspects to create something unique and showcase the skills I have developed. Wheel-thrown pieces have a symmetrical beauty to them that is difficult to achieve with hand building. Hand construction has a complex nature that allows the maker to improvise and change over a series of days rather than mere minutes at a wheel. Because of the combination of these practices, I am able to capture a particular style of form that expresses variation with static tension in an aesthetically pleasing way. The forms I have created provide a range of visual representations focusing on the idea of circulating motion. I could not resist the urge to make smaller, more compact forms when wheel throwing, as they require one to engage in close proximity. My goal is to capture the contradictory aspects of fluid and finite clay. As humans, we are always balancing constant change with the permanence of our decisions. I hope to spark a sense of new experience and interest in viewers while also holding a sense of familiarity through human experiences.
William Lawrence
Project advisors: Vickie Phipps, Peter Xiao, art; Claire Kovacs, Augustana Teaching Museum of Art
What is a Transistor?
This fall, I took the challenge of creating a series of infographic posters for a difficult physics topic: transistors. I took on this task because, being a double major in engineering and graphic design, I understand the difficulties students have with the topic, and the positive aspects that visual learning brings to the table. Each poster contains a dynamic color palette with varying balances of the objects shown. The point of this piece is to express a topic that is usually taught analytically, in a more visual way. Being a visual learner myself, I understand how hard comprehending certain topics in an analytical way can be. Certain physics topics have thus flown over my head because I just could not grasp the concept without seeing a physical representation of it. My hope is to create a series for a topic where I can now see a physical example of what it is able to create to try and get a better understanding. The work itself is a series of three posters, each representing different forms of electronics and the power that transistors hold. Each separate poster has a varying color palette, main subject, and balance within each separate element. The main text explains how each poster can function by transistors. Combining these three elements is what allows me to get across a message on what these transistors can do.
Brock McNinch
Project advisors: Vickie Phipps, Peter Xiao, Megan Quinn, art
Bottled Up: Explorations in Permanence
As a colorblind artist, what I appreciate about my art is its form over color. This drew my eye to ceramics and specifically pottery. For me, form is key when it comes to my work, and everything else from texture to glaze is secondary. The fact that a form needs to be created first before any other detail really allows me to focus on what I appreciate most. The body of work I created for this exhibition explores one of my favorite forms in the bottle. The five groupings of three show a variety of size, shape, glaze, clay and technique, all while relating to each other through the bottle form. I used three clay bodies, six glazes, multiple textures, and two firing methods to create variety. The subtleties in the wood-fired pieces make them my favorite of the exhibition followed by the pierced pieces. Something I find interesting about pottery is its role throughout the course of history as work with purpose and function. Rarely has pottery been considered fine art, as would paintings or sculpture, because of its functionality. Pottery was used for storage, transportation, eating and drinking. Its appearance in history can be matched with the beginnings of civilization and continue to be present in relatively similar functions. I’ve also been intrigued by the permanence of ceramics. Since my pieces are essentially stone, they will outlive myself and leave a piece of me for the future to see.
Madalynne Russell
Project advisor: Megan Quinn, art
Matyox
Matyox means “Thank You” in the Kaqchikel Mayan language. My work is an expression of gratitude to those in my life who have supported me. It portrays the people in my life who have helped me get where I am today. My parents, in particular, have worked very hard to give me the opportunity to attend college and receive an education from an incredible institution. They continue to support me through my career and personal decisions, and do all they can to lift me up. I recently had the opportunity to participate in a study-abroad program in Guatemala—an experience that could be summed up with the word “Maytox,” or “Thank You.” This experience allowed for me to be educated on many important issues, and opened my eyes to just how blessed I have been throughout my lifetime. Just as these pieces lift one another up and support each other, I have been blessed with many individuals in my life who have done the same for me. I am tremendously thankful for my friends, and especially my family, who have been my lifelong support system. Matyox is my way of saying “Thank You” to all of those individuals who provided the support that has allowed me to grow into the woman I am today.
Kate Schreader
Project advisors: Vickie Phipps, Peter Xiao, art
Reimagined
I remember when I was a little girl, I loved playing in the backyard and letting my imagination run wild. In my mind, I would be able to create a fantasy world. I could come up with the craziest adventures in my make-believe world. My imagination allowed me to go to places where I didn’t have to worry. It was my happy place. Looking back on these memories now, I realize that during the process of growing up, people start to lose their creative imagination. When people start to get older, they are faced with a harsh reality and get caught up in life. They lose time only focusing on their daily tasks and assignments. Sure, adults still do like to imagine things, but it’s never quite as playful. I think imagination is important to have because it allows a person to escape from the stresses of reality. For my Senior Inquiry project, I wanted to reexamine the idea of imagination and relive my childhood fantasies. Perhaps we all can see a little of our childhood dreams in these images displayed. The artist Salvador Dali inspired this project. Most of Dali’s paintings fall into the idea of surrealism, and he liked to focus on the subconscious mind. Being able to see things in a different way helps form creative ideas, and makes it easier for someone to use their imagination. This project allowed me to think outside the box and create new worlds out of ordinary objects.