Sculpture Studio Spring 2012

Summaries of Four Art Events

Student Show

The student show at Boyden Gallery was really interesting because I was able to see other students work. There was a variety of mediums displayed at the gallery. I was impressed with the charcoal drawings of Kat Eisenberg and Shannon Rafferty. I liked the detail and size of the individual pieces. I enjoyed seeing the artwork of classmates because I was present when they working on their artwork.
“Transcription of the Sistine Chapel” by Shannon Rafferty was my favorite charcoal drawing. I was impressed with the size and detail of the piece. As I walked into the gallery, it was the first piece that caught my eye. I was speechless when I saw the drawing up close and could not find any flaw with the piece.  I spent most of my time at the gallery looking over this piece because of the quality of the work.
The student art show was a great experience for me because I could look at art without having to leave campus.  I was impressed on how well my friends and classmates are able to express their artistic ability. They did an amazing job and I am glad that I got see the show.

Artist Talk: Joshua Wade Smith

Joshua Wade Smith was a visiting artist that was a recent graduate of MICA. He is performance artist, painter and sculptor. During the artist talk, Joshua spoke about life as an artist and how he develops his work. Smith spoke briefly about the start of his life as an artist. He studied art at Texas State University and then began studying at MICA. He talked about his sculptures/performance pieces which were very interesting because of its simplicity and strong meanings.
“Over The Mountain” (2009) was a performance piece that would involve him walking and climbing over a mountain. The performance piece included a backpack, a five foot painting of a mountain and a handmade ladder. Smith started at his house and walked to his studio carrying everything for his performance piece. Once he reached the studio, he would begin to set up the painting and the ladder. He climbed over the painting which was of a mountain. “Over The Mountain” was an interesting piece because of the meaning behind it. Smith enjoys climbing during his free time which was part of his inspiration for the piece. He had a rough life and had to work really hard to achieve his goals. Smith used the action of climbing over the mountain to represent his struggles in life.
The talk was very helpful to make future decisions as an art major. Smith explained that working in the art field is very difficult to get started. He said that it is necessary to be open to all types of art because it helps get a different view. Smith recently had a show at Hamiltonian Gallery in Washington D.C. He says it was a great opportunity as a new artist and he plans to continue working in art and having more exhibitions in the future.

Smithsonian: Art Museum

The visit to the Smithsonian Art Museum was different than I expected. I have been to other museums before and the environment is different at the art museum. The architecture of the building itself is easy to recognize. It was the quietest museum I have ever been to. The people were whispering to each other instead of talking and there was a lot of security. I wasn’t able to see everything in the museum because I was only there for a few hours and it is difficult to appreciate the art in a few minutes. I was able to see a lot of colonial paintings when I visited the museum. I enjoyed viewing them but my favorite piece was Chuck Close’s Phil III.  I have always liked Close’s work because of the size he worked in and the amount of detail he put in his portraits. Phil III was a portrait done before Close had his accident which limited his ability to work.

The museum itself was interesting. I liked the design of the entire place although I got lost at times while walking through. I wish that I would have had more time to see more of the art but I will go back during the summer.

Art SMP:

The Art SMP’s had a variety of artworks during the presentations.  Drawings, photographs, videos, and murals were all included. I was mostly interested in the studio art SMP’s because it gave me a few ideas of what I could do for my SMP. The piece that I was interested in the most was the community mural by Kaitlyn Olszewski. The reason why I liked this piece is because of the use of interactivity. Kaitlyn had to plan a way to make a mural that represents the SMCM community but could only be accomplished with the help of other students. I think that it was a lot of work to organize the event and get it finished in time. She did a great job with the SMP and the mural turned out great.