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Art major Sara Talias ’07 (Wyckoff, N.J.) got a new look at the natural world in an EXCEL project with Jim Toia, director of the art department’s community-based teaching program.
Talias helped Toia produce numerous aspects of his latest art exhibition Dawn, on display until May 27 at the Kim Forest Gallery in New York City.
“Working with Jim Toia has been an invaluable experience,” says Talias. “I was given the unique opportunity to be involved in the creative process as well as the exhibition development. Being involved in this artistic progression has given me a greater understanding of art as an experience.”
The raw material of the project consisted of many hours of color and movement Toia had captured videoing nature. Then, using Final Cut Pro editing software, Talias and Toia spent dozens of hours in the editing room paring down each 3-20 minute section of footage to 1-3 minutes.
The images were then organized together into a 16 minute non-narrative looping video that consists of nine panels of footage, playing simultaneously. The piece, called “Plume,” is then projected onto a hanging piece of Plexiglas.
“Working together, we isolated the strongest segments of the various videos,” says Talias. “Separate video sequences were created and placed within a geometrically composed structure to form a complete composition.”
Talias also helped with another work in the exhibition, “Dissolving Garden.” This piece consists of video projected on top of hundreds of lichen attached to the wall. She helped edit the video and placed a large majority of the lichen.
“In these projects, Sara saw the beginning, middle, and end of each piece. She watched my ideas develop and come to fruition in a professional environment; the gallery setting, which she helped create,” says Tioa. “I think it is a pretty broad scoped project which provided her with a tremendous amount of insight, to both the creative process of a multi-media artist, and the art world at large.”
EXCEL Scholars, like Talias, perform research or special projects with faculty while earning a stipend. The program has helped make Lafayette a national leader in undergraduate research. Many of the more than 160 students who participate in EXCEL each year go on to share their work though articles in academic journals and/or conference presentations.
“I have applied all that I have learned to my studio art honors thesis project,” Talias says, “Every element of this project, from the editing to the DVD production, has prepared me for my career in the fashion industry.”