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A public reception for an exhibit of works by candidates for academic honors in studio art will be held 5-7 p.m. today at the Richard A. and Richard W. Grossman Gallery of the Williams Visual Arts Building, 243 North 3rd St.
The exhibition opened at the gallery Saturday. The artists, all graduating seniors, presented their work to an honors jury 1-5 p.m. Monday and Tuesday.
The exhibit includes digital art, painting, drawing, video, collage, and an illustrated children’s book. It will run through Saturday, May 24. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
The art majors are Megan Bodtke of Franklin Lakes, N.J.; Eric Dahar of Pittsburgh, Pa., also majoring in English; Kara Henry of Sandy Hook, Conn., also majoring in history; Amanda Lyons of Oreland, Pa., also majoring in English; Christopher Metzger of Lisbon Falls, Maine; Chris Michaud of Millerton, N.Y., also majoring in music; and Janice Truszkowski of Phillipsburg, N.J.
The artists gave the following statements about their projects:
Eric Dahar
“I believe it was Felegy who sat me down and said, ‘Dahar, now that you mention it, I do remember going to your house and drawing a lot when we were kids.’ Indeed, drawing played an integral part in my life. I believe it helped give order to an imagination that I had little control over. Despite a rather calm outer shell, inside my mind stormed with loud color and explosive action. Filled with stories and images, I constantly tried endlessly to keep up with my mind with writing and sketching. As I got older, especially in high school, drawing didn’t seem to accommodate the increasing sophistication I was beginning to desire. Like a sneeze that just wouldn’t sneeze, I began to lose the creativity I had as a child.
“A year or so ago, I sneezed. My dreams started to take shape in the contours of paint. Still not the intensity and energy I had inside, I was nonetheless pleased by a more sophisticated organization and style. Once again I am toiling to keep up with my unpredictable imagination that has been both a curse and blessing.”
Megan Bodtke
“‘Zen practiced in the state of activity is incomparably superior to that practiced in the state of withdrawal.’ – Daie. The ocean has been a mysterious constant for centuries in many different cultures. I have always been intrigued and drawn to this phenomenon. We cannot live without water; every living being thrives off it. Studies show that water, predominantly flowing water, has a huge body-calming effect. For years I have drawn and painted different types of water; therefore I decided to focus my honors thesis on the ocean.
“By using a digital camera to record footage of the tide, I was able to capture the waves at the exact moments that I found aesthetically pleasing. With these chosen frames I was able to study and paint waves that I believed to be particularly interesting. Painting water gives me a sense of inner peace and is a door through which I can practice a Zen. Through my art I hope that viewers can receive this effect visually and achieve a feeling of calmness, comfort, and pleasure.”
Kara Henry
“Over time the depictions of the female figure in art have changed, reflecting the ideals of the time, but the underlying theme has remained constant: The female figure represents beauty. Botticelli’s ‘Birth of Venus’ has been a strong depiction of the beauty that the female nude possesses. The female form has qualities that make it inherently beautiful.
“Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries there have been obvious shifts in the perception of beauty as symbolized in art. Modernism, surrealism, and abstraction have replaced the beauty of the woman with the beauty of abstract form. There is great beauty in line, volume, shape, and color. Since these movements, there are many more ways to depict beauty in art than just the female figure. Today, women have gone through many transformations. They have evolved from a subordinate second-rate role to essential members of society. Within all these transformations I believe that one thing remains the same: Women are beautiful. There are many beautiful aspects of the female form and women should once again be recognized in art as symbols of beauty.”
Amanda Lyons
“As an art student interested in all media, I have created an installation involving video, collage, and writing. My interests in time come partly from my interest in the unknown, the unknowable.
My thesis is a look at the interpretation of time in today’s culture. It addresses a few ways in which we as a people treat time. From observing chunks of time, to being overwhelmed in the attempt to ‘keep up’ with time, to engaging in an activity that allows us to forget time, I hope to raise questions about the way we perceive time. Do we worship it? Does time control us, or do we control time? What vehicles let us classify and treat time the way we do?
“The characteristics of the lives we lead flow from our experience with time. Through choice and habit each of us constructs our own relationship with time. Some of us see it to be controlled; some of us allow it to control us. The environment in which we live contributes to our habits. I recognize that technology today plays a great part in those habits. And so along with my bare hands, I have used technology to create an environment in my thesis.”
Chris Michaud
“The work shown is the beginning of a lifelong search, initially for a reason and justification to exist, and ultimately for a greater meaning and understanding from which to live. In its infancy, the project explored philosophy, mathematics, and contemporary physics as a means of destroying the fundamental credibility of the secular-based value system on which contemporary American life is centered. Having achieved this nihilism, the Aesthetic of Stillness is the replacement. It is the foundation of a new value system, which reaches back toward spirituality, to the oral tradition, and to the wisdom of generations past. The Aesthetic of Stillness is a return to the irrational numbers, the spaces in between things, the diffusion of structure, and the realization of oneness that is zero.
“The ultimate visual application of this aesthetic concept relates directly to brushstroke, and therefore, to the non-objective and to abstraction. It is in the act of painting (seeing) that one works out these new values and attempts to approach stillness. As this is purely reactionary, abstract expressionism is the necessary battleground for this search. At the same time, as this concept originates in the search for meaning in life, it relates directly to the universe as it appears to be, and therefore must, at times, relate back to our experience in this world, and ultimately, the body.”
Christopher Metzger
“As both a fine artist and graphic artist, I have struggled with the use of digital media in my own artwork. This struggle has led to my thesis, which addresses the inclusion of digital art as a fine art form. Although digital art has, for the most part, been accepted in the contemporary art world, I believe the level of acceptance remains a highly debated issue. My thesis explores the various aspects of digital art and their significance in the categorization of this particular art form.
“Although this issue may not be resolvable, it is my hope to gain a deeper understanding of digital art and come to my own conclusion about this increasingly complex subject. My work will focus primarily on digital art, but will also include painting, and a mixture of digital and other forms, to visually explore a variety of levels of integration between digital and traditional forms of imaging. Through my thesis, I hope to open the doors for discussion about digital art and its place in the current art scene.
Janice M. Truszkowski
“For my honors thesis I wrote and illustrated a children’s book. The main goal of this endeavor was to explore and reinterpret the ancient mythological traditions found throughout the history of humankind, for though old, these stories are not outdated and still resonate even in today’s modern society. Through this collection of stories, I hope to demonstrate that the ancient tales from the past have maintained a universal appeal, regardless of their distance from time or place.
Though taken from diverse cultures, the underlying concern of each story remains the same, that of the plight of the individual or even the community in a vast and unknowable world.
“This book consists of five interrelated stories as it follows the journey of the main character as he travels throughout the world. Each story reflects the mythological traditions of the particular culture featured, though in actuality these stories are universal and can be found in nearly any culture. The book explores such universal themes as the hero, the hero on a quest, the hero saving those in distress, the hero required to complete tasks, the hero rewarded, the hero finding love, etc. Additionally, each story is illustrated in a distinct style to reflect the artistic conventions of the culture presented. In this way, the traditions of humankind could be celebrated both for their universality and their diversity.”