Month: April 2019

Title of Event: Prototype, Control, & Conquer

Date & Time: April 4th, 7-9pm

Location: Maker-E

Type: Workshop with visiting artist Everest Pipkin

Title of Event: Language and Other Games

Date & Time: April 13th, ~2pm

Location: Samek Downtown Gallery

Type: Gallery visit

Title of Event – Mattress Factory

Date and Time of Event – March 13, all day

Location of Event – Pittsburg PA

Type of Event – Art Museum

Event: Samek Museum in the ELC: Private Island

Date: 4/22/2019

Photo:

Title of Event – Senior Art Exhibit

Date and Time of Event – Tuesday April 23, 12:00pm

Location of Event – Samek Art Museum (LC)

Type of Event – Gallery Visit

Senior artist presentations and exhibit

Friday, April 12, 6 p.m.

Gallery Theater, Samek Art Museum

Seniors and other artists

Five seniors gave quick presentations on their artwork in 10-15 minute periods. They talked about their pieces across their college career, their inspirations and then their final pieces. Afterwards, in the museum the students’ art pieces, along with other artists’ pieces, were on display.

The students each had their own approach to art and their own journey to reach where they are today in skill and achievement. I could tell they were excited to show their work and entertain us with their experience. They were well prepared and the art was very inventive, unique and authentic. In the museum, there pieces were masterly exhibited and were even more impressive in person than on the presentations.

The fact that students who are the same age as I am could create such incredible pieces of art was impressive. Their poise while telling the audience about their creations and art experiences was inspiring. In the museum, the pieces were on a whole new level of artistic ability. In all honesty, I was a bit jealous and wanted to try and catch up to their level of mastery.

This double event was an easy 9. The students were great, in both artistic talent and presentation, the other artists were okay too, Dan’s work is interesting, and the food was incredible.

Wynwood Walls

March 10th

Wynwood Walls –  Miami Beach, Florida

Exhibition

Afro Surrealism

Rochelle Spencer gave about an hour lecture with about a half hour of questioning in the Great Room of the Humanities Center.  She was discussing the topic of Afro Surrealism through the mediums of literature, fine art, and music.  She showed music videos, images, and other lectures within her presentation.

Rochelle Spencer was clearly very passionate about the topic.  She showed vast examples of work so that the audience could understand the topic of Afro Surrealism, which is typically not every day knowledge.  One part that I found particularly interesting was when she showed photographs by artist Rachel Eliza Griffiths.  These photos show hardships that African American women face by placing the figures in strange yet dream like atmospheres, but covering their faces with objects from masks to wigs.

I was impressed that Spencer was such an expert on a topic that is not particularly popular.

I would rate this event a six.

The information was very interesting and Spencer had a lot of passion, but there was a lot of technical problems that made it take longer than necessary.

Senior Art Show

In the gallery theater, the seniors artists each gave a short presentation on their previous work and their current final project.  There was then a short questioning from audience members at the end.  The whole discussion took about an hour.

I really enjoyed seeing artwork that was personally meaningful to students and friends that I share campus and courses with.  Sometimes in an art class, you only make a few projects so you don’t get a full representation of their aesthetic.  I think that the structure of allowing students to discuss work that they produced in the summer, high school, or even abroad allowed me to understand their pieces even further.  The questioning allowed me to hear questions I might not thought of to ask myself, but appreciated knowing the answers to.

I was impressed by the vast differences in all of the projects, even though the student artists worked so closely.

I would rate this event as an 8.

I found the presentations and work very interesting, but sometimes I wanted more context for the work.

Event: Senior Snap Talks

When: Friday April 12th, 5PM

Where: Great Room, Samek Museum

Afro-Surrealism

Wednesday, March 27, 7 p.m.

Great Room, Hildreth-Mirza Hall

Guest Editor/ Professor of Race Lecture

Rochelle Spencer gave an hour-long presentation with a thirty-minute period, afterwards, for questions. She used a presentation equipped with links to guide her talk. She showed pieces of artwork, talked about history and discussed the future path for her research.

Professor Spencer was enthusiastic, bubbly and fun to listen to. Moving past the original technical difficulties, her love of the subject carried me through her presentation gracefully. I learned about a topic I had never heard of, or thought needed to exist in Afro-Surrealism and saw some interesting pieces of art that could influence my future work. The history was interesting, but the stunning artwork, that professor Spencer showed, stole the show. I think that there existing a category of stories, art and music completely centered on an African-American protagonist that anyone can write, or create is a beautiful addition to our society.

As I mentioned above, some of the artwork, namely this one sculpture really blew me away. I do not remember the artist, but it was a black form on a canvas with rocks hanging below on these old worn out ropes. I am not positive of what I saw in it, or its true meaning, but it was abstract and caught my eye.

I would rate this event an 8 because while interesting, it did not have a linear path, or one that made sense. Professor Spencer kind of jumped from idea to idea in a rough way.