Emotion, engagement central to biennial Art faculty exhibition

From a carpet of fluttering paper butterflies, to motion-activated found-object artwork, the Elon Department of Art’s biennial exhibition shows students and the community what inspires the faculty as artists and teachers.

The exhibition offers students the opportunity to see their teachers and mentors at work, discuss it with them, and connect with media and techniques they may want to use in their senior capstone or beyond. It opened Monday, Oct. 7, and will be on display through Dec. 6 at Gallery 406, part of the Arts West complex on West Haggard Avenue.

“Having our work displayed on campus offers the Elon community a better understanding of our own practice and scholarship,” said Professor of Art Michael Fels, chair of the Art Department. “The students also need to see that we have to address execution, studio practice, timelines, professionalism, and critique just as we ask of them.”

Fels called this year’s exhibition “exceptional,” featuring four new artists, new media, new approaches and “engaging and challenging work.”

The variety of media and emotional resonance of the collection are striking. Through videos, paintings, sculpture, illustrations and even hair-embroidered cloth, the pieces deal with the balance of humanity’s impact on the planet, familial relationships, perceptions of romance, history juxtaposed with the present, and the state of flux.

Fels hopes it leads students and the wider Elon community to question the nature of art, including where and how it exists in the world.

“The faculty in the Art Department brings a diverse and very high-quality approach to art-making,” Fels said. “I’m always hoping that people take time with the art; that they don’t move along too quickly, disregarding the work because they are not familiar with it. I want to challenge students’ and the public’s proclivities, likes and dislikes.”

Faculty and pieces displayed in the exhibit include:

• Fels: “Moments of Ah-ha,” “Yet She Can Paint,” “Greenberg’s Argument,” and “Rosenberg’s Retort”: mixed media;
• Adjunct Professor of Art Micah Daw: “Cart Within the Horse”, a selection of oil-and-acrylic paintings arranged on a pine construction, 2018-2019 including “Animal Music,” “Shunt,” “Kozelec,” “Infinite Dusk,” “Begowned,” and “Tracking”;
• Associate Professor of Art and Environmental Studies Samantha DiRosa: “Becoming Artemis” triptych and “Becoming Isis”: chromogenic prints;
• Adjunct Assistant Professor of Art Mark Iwinski: “Beaver Assisted Device,” charred beaver-chewed birch wood, shellac, rope and pulleys, and “After Ucchello, Mazzocchio (Great Eye),” handmade ink on paper;
• Adjunct Professor of Art Eric Juth: “rereCAPTCHA,” a processing program randomly generated compositions sourced from 2000 Google reCAPTCHA images, and four collections of reCAPTCHA images printed with UV ink on vinyl mesh — “39537671645585140120245370,” “ 871401818913919411515082065” “2182012965183331506870246,” and  “1313506107137321311959202”;
• Associate Professor of Art Young Do Kim: “Field Guide for Enna,” mixed media including archival pigment prints, glass, fan, and light bulbs on a timer;

  

• Adjunct Assistant Professor of Art Joy Meyer: “Fictional Desires,” with four multi-channel HD video loops played on vintage TVs, “Five-to-Seven-Years-Depending on Use,” neon from artist’s drawing, and “Untitled, The Swan,” and “Untitled, The Cave,” digitally altered photograms;
• Associate Professor of Art Anne Simpkins: “Restaurant,” “Tramvia,” “Specola Birds,” and “Gelato Case,” oil on paper; and
• Assistant Professor of Art and Artist-in-Residence Grace Tessein: “Restless,” mixed media of glazed earthenware, glazed porcelain and luster, steel, linen, wood, and artist’s hair; “Lucky Dog,” “Sisters,” and “Lost and Found,” mixed media linen dyed with light-sensitive dye, wood, and the artist’s and artist’s sister’s hair.