Clemson Visual Arts

The Clemson University Center for Visual Arts hit the ground running in 2017

Media Release

Center for Visual ArtsCLEMSON — The Center for Visual Arts (CVA) at Clemson University has hit the ground running in 2017, having already opened four new exhibits, hosted an artist talk and celebrated the sale of the spring 2017 shares of Community Supported Art (CSArt) student-created work.

The CVA’s calendar continues to unfold and reveal more events to attend, including new artists and innovative workshops. From visiting artists to student exhibitions and seminars, the CVA calendar has unique and transformative experiences for all. Thanks to generous supporters, the vast majority of CVA events remain free for the public. Check out the ongoing and upcoming opportunities the CVA is offering this spring. For more information and to access the full calendar of events, visit clemson.edu/cva.

Clemson National Print and Drawing Exhibition
Feb. 15–March 15 • 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday • Lee Gallery
Artist Reception • Feb. 7, 3:30–4:30 p.m. • Lee Gallery
Exhibition • Feb. 15–March 15 • 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday • Lee Gallery

Since the beginning of our time on Earth, we have responded to the impact of change in every aspect of our human experience. In the ever-expanding social, technological, biological and digital era, change is taking place at unprecedented speeds while the world is becoming a much smaller place. The 2017 Clemson National Print and Drawing exhibition explores change in a wide range of approaches to unpacking this idea.

Passport to the Arts
March 3 • 6-9:30 p.m. •  Order tickets now at clemsonpassport.org

Now in its seventh year, the “Passport to the Arts” continues to be an exciting “town and gown” event. Join the Lee Gallery at Clemson University and The Arts Center of Clemson for an evening of fine art, entertainers, live music, drinks and exceptional food showcased at four different locations.

The Clemson Area Transit (CAT) shuttle will take you on a visual arts tour of Clemson for a fun-filled evening. All shuttles feature entertainment, making your ride to each venue even more enjoyable. Our locations this year include The Arts Center, the CATBus Terminal, the Lee Gallery at Clemson University and Cox Hall at Clemson Little Theatre in Pendleton.

Tickets are $40 per person and can be purchased at clemsonpassport.org.

Jeff Beekman artist talk
March 2, 5:30–6:30 p.m. • 2-301 Lee Hall

Jeff Beekman is a multidisciplinary artist whose artwork since early 2000 has explored the interrelationships between land, memory and human activity.  His work has been exhibited at venues across the U.S., as well as New Zealand, Australia, China, Vietnam, England, Hungary and South Korea.

Ink Travels
March 31–Oct. 4 • 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday
Sikes Hall Showcase, ground floor

“Ink travels” refers to the constant challenge of keeping an active print shop clean.  In the context of this exhibition, the term also refers to the wide-reaching influence of Professor Sydney A. Cross’s teaching and mentoring. Similar to how “ink travels” this exhibition showcases Cross’s legacy as an educator and illustrates the positive impact she has had on artists across the nation.  The exhibition is a thoughtful tribute to the quality of Cross’s teaching and a reflection on the Clemson family in the visual arts.

Sense of Place: Picturing West Greenville Exhibit
April 3 – July 28 • 8 a.m.–5 p.m. Monday-Friday
Center for Visual Arts-Greenville, fifth floor, 1 N. Main St., Greenville

This exhibition examines the people, places and the cultural life of West Greenville in a project organized by the Center for Visual Arts- Greenville. Artists invited to participate in the project demonstrate relevant experience in creating a collection of works using environmental portraiture or storytelling. The goal of the project was to build community, convey and bring together a significant exhibit meant to honor West Greenville residents and the surrounding community. The artists selected to participate in the project and exhibit are Dawn Roe of Asheville, North Carolina, and Winter Park, Florida; Dustin Chambers of Atlanta; Kathleen Robbins of Columbia; and Leon Alesi of Asheville and Austin, Texas. Works in this exhibition are not for sale as they are part of the CVA Art Collection. No lectures or receptions are planned for this exhibition.

SmART Series Seminar 7 with Jeffrey Baykal-Rollins
April 3 • 5:30–6:30 p.m.
1-100 Lee Hall

Jeffrey Baykal-Rollins is an American multimedia artist and educator now based in the greater New York City area after living in Istanbul for more than a decade. His “art as social practice,” combines drawing with performance, alternative education, institutional critique and cultural studies.

Two Cents: BFA Senior Exhibit
April 17–26 • 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday • Lee Gallery
Reception: April 21, 6-8 p.m. • Lee Gallery
Artist talks: April 21, 6:30–7 p.m. • Lee Gallery

Artists explore how humans relate to themselves, experience the world, and examine their history. Two Cents is an exhibit of works by graduating Bachelor of Fine Arts students in the disciplines of drawing, painting and photography.

A Sense of Place: Clemson • Drawings and Watercolors by James F. Barker
April 24–Oct. 11 • 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday
College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities Dean’s Gallery • 101 Strode Tower

As an architecture student, alumnus, dean, president emeritus and now professor of architecture, James F. Barker gives a unique perspective. His exhibit captures a sense of community that portrays a richness, depth and love for the Clemson campus. Reception to be announced at a later date.

Spring Ceramics Studio Sale and CSArt Share Pick Up
April 26, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. • Lee Gallery Hallway

Student ceramic work will be on sale in the Lee Gallery Hallway for purchase. In addition, Community Support Art (CSArt) spring 2017 shareholders are invited to the annual CSArt Pick Up to receive their shares and celebrate another successful semester of student artwork.

CURRENTLY ON DISPLAY

Pliable Instance: Paintings by Todd McDonald
On view until March 28
8 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday
Center for Visual Arts–Greenville, fifth floor, 1 N. Main St.

Through abstractions of architectural structures, Todd McDonald’s images explore the contemporary visual rhetoric where the virtual and material collide. Throughout history, painting is used as a vehicle to describe spaces and locations that do not actually exist. Now society is confronted with new digital tools that are shaping the character of visual culture.

Foundations I: Department of Art Student Exhibit
On view until April 17 • 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday • CAAH Dean’s Gallery
101 Strode Tower

The Foundations exhibit features students who have completed the Foundation level studio courses in the department of art at Clemson. The showcase is a reflection of explorations with visual expression and problem-solving.

Gathering Lines: Drawings by Kathleen Thum
On view until April 27 • 1–5 p.m. Monday-Friday • Brooks Center Lobby Showcase

Kathleen Thum’s exhibition of drawings, paintings, collages and large-scale wall installations abstractly reference pipeline infrastructures to bring awareness and a visual presence of our society’s dependence on petroleum.

END

Art Students Gain Valuable Experience Through Lee Gallery Internship

Lee Gallery Intern, Hannah CarteeThe Center for Visual Arts – Lee Gallery at Clemson University is known to be a catalyst for showcasing the research of art students, faculty, national and international artists. What is not commonly known is that it also offers an internship opportunities to Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) students. The program is run by the gallery director, Denise Woodward-Detrich. Student interns gain hands on experience and professional development by working on real life projects. Students also receive custom course credit based on hours not to mention valuable experience to put on their resume.

The program involves students researching and writing about artists and events, handling artwork, welcoming guests, and preparing interviews for artist visits. This semester, 11 student interns have worked on a variety of projects on campus in addition to traveling to art lectures and artist studios. One visit even included Skype meeting with the Director of the Andy Warhol Museum.

Earlier this semester, interns learned to hang frames for the installation of the most recent student juried show, Connections and Conversations. This exhibit is currently on display in the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities Dean’s office. They also drafted questions for a studio visit with David Detrich after representing Clemson in a forum on public art at the Anderson Arts Center the previous week.

Lee Gallery Interns - Making FramesInterns, Hannah Cartee and Leah Brazell developed and delivered a gallery talk with interactive activities to almost 50 middle school students. Activities took place at a permanent art installation in Hardin Hall and at MFA alumnus, Richard Lou’s,  Stories On My Back installation in the Lee Gallery. Additional projects include introducing visiting artist, Richard Lou at his artist talk and writing an article for the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) thesis exhibition, Solastalgia, which is scheduled to open in the Lee Gallery later this month on Monday, Oct, 31.

Most recently, student interns, Johnny Murphy and Caroline Herring prepared condition reports for the Foundations exhibit. In addition, Hannah Cartee and Leah Brazell worked in the woodshop to make frames for an upcoming photography exhibit in the spring.

Interns not only execute tasks for the Lee Gallery, but also learn by preparing future projects which is an essential practice of gallery work. Reliability, efficiency, and knowledge of art are all characteristics displayed by good interns. Lee Gallery functions with the contribution of the student interns, who in turn, benefit by gaining rich professional skills of hands on activities and communications as undergraduates.

 

Middle School Students Visit Clemson to Learn the Value of Thinking Creatively

Glenview Middle-Lee GalleryThis week, BFA alumna, Stephanie Raspet ’04 brought almost 50 of her art students from Glenview Middle School to tour the Center for Visual Arts – Lee Gallery’s installation, “Stories On My Back” and the public art piece, “Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny” in Hardin Hall after enjoying a performance and viewing their artwork displayed at the Brooks Center for the Performing Arts.

The students visit with the Center for Visual Arts consisted of Lee Gallery interns guiding a discussion about the visual artists, the formal and conceptual aspects of the art as well as making connections between their own school art projects with the installations. Students listened to a talk about the installation by Richard Lou, “Stories On My Back” in the Lee Gallery. The students explored the gallery and recorded their responses to the installation. Afterward, students shared their responses, asked questions, and learned about new ways of using art as a storytelling device, just as Lou has done with FullSizeRenderthis multimedia installation.

In Hardin Hall, students visited the permanent ceramic wall tile installation, “Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny” by Kathy Triplett. Students learned about the artist and how this public art references biology and historical landmarks at Clemson University. This on campus public art is one of the works of art managed by the Creativity Inquiry program, Atelier InSite.

The visit exposed these young students to performance and visual arts, the work of established artists and abstract ways to represent ideas with art. The School of Arts is committed to expanding young minds by guiding conversations that will allow students to think creatively. Currently, Glenview Middle School art student artwork can be viewed in the Brooks Center for the Performing Arts. There will be a free reception to recognize these students at 6 p.m. on October 27, 2016.

 

An artist returns to his roots: Clemson’s Center for Visual Arts hosts “Stories on My Back”

Media Release

“Stories on My Back,” an installation by Clemson Master of Fine Arts (MFA) alumnus Richard Alexander Lou, ’86 will open the 2016-17 season in the Center for Visual Arts – Lee Gallery on Aug. 22 and run until Oct. 13.  On Friday, Sept. 23 at 5:30 p.m., the artist will give an artist talk about his work with a reception to follow in the gallery.

Lou was born and grew up in San Diego, CA with a biracial family, which was spiritually and intellectually guided by an anti-colonialist Chinese father and a culturally affirming Mexicana mother. After earning his bachelor’s degree in San Diego, CA, Lou continued his education at Clemson University, citing a handwritten note from the Chair of the Department of Art, a tradition that is still practiced today, as the decisive factor that led him to choose Clemson out of almost one hundred potential graduate schools. Lou has exhibited internationally and has over 30 years’ experience teaching in higher education, 20 years as an arts administrator most recently serving as Chair of the Department of Art at University of Memphis in Memphis, TN.

He has been invited back to campus to showcase his traveling multimedia installation that combines photography, found objects and sound walls of tamale husks. The artist writes, “As a contemporary image-maker I am interested in collecting dissonant ideas and narratives, allowing them to bump into each other, to coax new meanings and possibilities that dismantle the hierarchy of images. The work serves as an ideological, social, political and cultural matrix from which I understand my place in this world and to make a simple marking of the cultural shifts of my community.”

“Stories on My Back” art installation was featured in the recently released book, The Routledge Companion to Latina/o Popular Culture by Guisela Latorre, PhD, as a reference to the increasing proliferation of Lantina/o culture in modern American popular culture.

This innovative art collaboration with Richard A. Lou, ’86 is part of the Center for Visual Art’s commitment to support the 2020 ClemsonForward strategic plan to provide educational activities to attract and retain outstanding students by “providing an exceptional educational experience grounded in engagement.” In addition, Richard collaborated with four other artists, three of whom are Clemson University alumni: Chere Labbe Doiron, Jo Carol Mitchell-Rogers ’87, Robert Spencer ’86 and Chris Wallace ’86.

The Center for Visual Arts-Lee Gallery at Clemson University will be open for this exhibit 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays. It is located in 1-101 Lee Hall, 323 Fernow St. The exhibition, artist talks and reception are free to the public because of the generous support given to the Center for Visual Arts. For more information about exhibitions in the Lee Gallery, as well as other Center for Visual Arts galleries and venues, visit www.clemson.edu/cva.

Art Students Reflect Through End of the Year Exhibition

Art FoundationsAs the spring semester came to a close, Art Foundations students at Clemson University installed pieces in the Center for Visual Arts – Lee Gallery and a reception drew faculty, staff, friends and family to enjoy the wide range of unique student art. This exciting event celebrating the hard work of these students is invaluable to the creative growth process.

The Art Foundations end of the year visual review provides art students the opportunity to achieve preparing and organizing a display of artwork in a professional manner. It also allows students time to reflect upon the work created in the first few years as an art major in order to prepare for moving forward through the department of art curriculum.

Any undergraduate art student who has completed all four studio foundation courses is invited to participate. The department of art classifies Art Foundations I, Art Foundations II, Foundation Drawing I and Foundation Drawing II to be the four classes required to complete this fundamental phase. Every student submits eight to ten works of art of their choosing, keeping in mind the idea of displaying a cohesive collection of the best work to date. The students also submit a written statement analyzing their collections.

View video

View photos

About The Center for Visual Arts
The Center for Visual Arts (CVA) at Clemson University is where students, visitors and scholars explore contemporary perspectives in art and culture through research, outreach programming and studio practice. With a mission to engage and render visible the creative process, the CVA is a dynamic intellectual and physical environment where art is created, exhibited and interpreted. It educates through academic research and practice with art at its core, drawing upon varied disciplines to examine critically cultural issues and artistic concerns.

Student art in bloom this spring at Center for Visual Arts

Media Release

Student Art in Bloom

CLEMSON — Clemson University visual art students will be on full display this spring in the Clemson University Center for Visual Art’s (CVA) gallery spaces.

The second half of the semester features a calendar full of student exhibitions. Both Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) and Master of Fine Arts (MFA) graduating students present a comprehensive show of work weeks prior to graduation. These exhibits are a special time for visual art students, allowing them to reflect on the transformational experience Clemson has provided and choose pieces that best personify the student’s creative achievements.

BFA senior exhibits and MFA thesis exhibits showcase the culmination of year-long research endeavors. Visual Arts students go through a series of critiques aimed at helping build a body of work of the students’ choosing. The public is invited to join the conversation by attending the artist talks, followed by the artists’ receptions. Join the CVA this spring to see the next generation of art in bloom.

Diminishing Connections (MFA)
March 25, 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m.,Lee Gallery

Our existence is experienced through the container of the body and how that relates to others and the world around us. M.J. King investigates this existence through one’s physical embodiment, studying surface of skin and relationships. Looking to the state of being or having been, the body becomes a vessel and a need to preserve that memory and connection emerges. Mary Cooke examines the relationship between humans and nature experienced within the domestic realm. Her labyrinthine amalgamation of manufactured nature and domestic signifiers leads viewers on a circuitous journey through the familiar but unnatural.

Artist Talks and Reception
March 25, 6–8 p.m.

On the Way/Far and Away (MFA)
March 28–April 1, 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Lee Gallery

This solo exhibition of MFA thesis work by En Iwamura features a walk-in installation of large-scale ceramic sculptures and drawings that explore interrelated themes of an epic journey. Layered elements of Japanese gardens and theater, as well as Manga and popular culture, combine to heighten the impression of a distant and vast unfamiliar world.

Artist Talks and Reception
April 1, 6-8 p.m.

Inside Out (BFA)
April 4–8, 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Lee Gallery

Daily we explore the balance of our inner and outward selves. We interact with our outer surroundings and come in touch with our inner presence. These relationships draw oneself in to explore the intimacy and harmony between interactions, nature and our own. Through drawing, painting, ceramics and photo we have chosen to research these relationships and what type of imprint they will make. Exhibiting artists include Laddie Neil, Alisha Petersen, Summer Stanley, Emily Tucker and Simone Wilson.

Artist Talks and Reception
April 8, 6–8 p.m.

Sempiternal Flesh (BFA)
April 11–15, 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Lee Gallery

Flesh is finite, lacking and conditional by nature, though it desires preservation. Human beings share a longing to know what might change if we experience our own flesh in a state of divine sempiternity. As we search for this existence, we encounter the barriers of our temporal flesh and natural tendencies to alleviate realities in perverse behaviors. We, as artists, intend to translate these ideologies to viewers in a way that is relatable, but not necessarily comforting. Allowing the viewer to concoct an individual conclusion is where beauty begins incubation. Exhibiting artists include Libby Davis, Jessie Helmrich, David Lamm, Lexi Mathis.

Artist Talks and Reception
April 15, 6–8 p.m.

Turn it Up to Eleven (BFA)
April 11–15, 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Acorn Gallery

An alternative approach to storytelling, Turn it Up to Eleven combines narrative with a critique of contemporary culture. Through a nuanced cast of characters in a fictional setting, the collection offers voyeuristic insight into the grit and glamour of the music industry. A look into the world of these imaginary musicians reveals a lifestyle that has only three rules: Make it passionate. Make it heavy. Turn it up to 11. Work by Victoria Watkins.

Artist Talks, April 15, 6–6:30 p.m., Lee Gallery
Reception, April 15, 6:30–8 p.m., Acorn Gallery

Embrace.Exchange.Connect. (BFA)
April 18–22, 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Lee Gallery

As artists we are embracing the simplest aspects of life, exchanging ideas across cultures and communities, and connecting people through our work. By taking forgotten moments into our studio practices and elevating them, we are directing focus to the overlooked; embracing the mundane and bringing it to the forefront of the mind. Through an array of disciplines, we encompass these concepts and individually interpret them. Participating artists include Parker Barfield, Caitlin Gurley-Cullen, Rachel Rinker, Torrean Smith and Ella Wesly.

Artist Talks and Reception
April 22, 6–8 p.m.

The exhibition, artist talks and reception are free to the public because of the support given to the Center for Visual Arts.

END

The Center for Visual Arts
The Center for Visual Arts (CVA) at Clemson University is where students, visitors and scholars explore contemporary perspectives in art and culture through research, outreach programming and studio practice. With a mission to engage and render visible the creative process, the CVA is a dynamic intellectual and physical environment where art is created, exhibited and interpreted. It educates through academic research and practice with art at its core, drawing upon varied disciplines to examine critically cultural issues and artistic concerns.

Top Statewide Master of Fine Arts Students Exhibit at Clemson University Juried Show

Corporeal Complexities Exhibit

CLEMSON — Top artists in Master of Fine Arts (MFA) programs at Clemson University, University of South Carolina and Winthrop University teamed with honors students at Clemson University in an undergraduate English Accelerated Composition course to explore and interpret the theme Corporeal Complexities: Bodies in Process. The end result is a statewide juried exhibition of MFA work curated by the honors students. The Coordinator of Museum Interpretation at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, GA, Virginia Sweeney juried the exhibit. The exhibition runs until Jan. 29 with a Juror’s Discussion and Reception occurring Friday, Jan. 16, 6 – 7 p.m. in the Center for Visual Arts (CVA) – Lee Gallery on Clemson’s campus.

2014-12-10 10.27.52Corporeal Complexities: Bodies in Process Exhibit allows the participating artists to explore how an apparently permanent world of seemingly unchanging humans is actually changing quite rapidly. Changes add and intersect with one another to create layers of complexity. The MFA students have explored these complexities, placing the human body in context of an ever-changing world. The artists selected for this exhibition include Laken Bridges, Tanna Burchinal, Vivianne Carey, Lindsey Elsey, Alex Giannell, Lee Ann Harrison, Nina Kawar, Mary Jane King, Joel Murray, Brent Pafford, Caley Pennington, Thomas Seay, Hilary Siber, Moses Tsai, and Samantha Valdez.

This exhibition is the product of an extended collaboration between the Center for Visual Arts (CVA) and undergraduate honors students in English at Clemson University through the Clemson Curates initiative. Clemson Curates is the product of an interdisciplinary collaboration across the University to promote the arts. Faculty teach experiential-learning courses through a partnership with the CVA, allowing students to gain practical knowledge of how arguments are constructed and analyzed both within classrooms and in the broader world. These courses encourage students to consider different ways of constructing arguments as a core component of Clemson’s mission to emphasize writing across the disciplines. Students learn to consider the arts and visual rhetoric from a variety of perspectives and fields, providing them with a more comprehensive view––taking students from classroom-based knowledge to broader applications both inside and outside the arts.

The contributing honor students are Caroline Bales, Dustin Brecht, Jon Brownfield, Matthew Carson, Jonathan Drake, Meredith Ellis, Jake Flynn, David Gundana, Alexander Herd, Ethan Kirkland, Joseph Litts, Hannah Mace, Andrew Moore, Sophia Porach, Peter Rowan, Andrew Shumaker, Taylor Thompson, Katie Tobik, and Sean West. These students collaborated with several members of the Clemson University faculty and staff: Denise Woodward-Detrich, CVA Lee Gallery director; John Morgenstern, visiting assistant professor of English; Kathy Edwards, research and collection development librarian for the Gunnin Library; Jan Lay, Clemson 2014-12-10 10.24.50computing and information technology technical learning instructor; Meredith Mims McTigue, CVA/art department marketing and public relations director; and Nathan Newsome, CVA Lee Gallery intern.

The Center for Visual Arts – Lee Gallery at Clemson University will be open for this exhibit M – TH, 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (excluding University holidays) and is located at 1-101 Lee Hall. The street address is 323 Fernow Street, Clemson, SC 29634.  The Exhibit  as well as Juror’s Discussion and Reception occurring Friday, Jan. 16, 6 – 7 p.m. in the Lee Gallery is free and open to the public thanks in part to CVA generous donors.  For more information about the CVA – Lee Gallery, contact Denise Woodward-Detrich, Director at woodwaw@clemson.edu.

VIEW PHOTOS

 

Opening Day for MFA Statewide Collaborative Exhibit in the Lee Gallery

Opening Day!

Take a study break and come to the Lee gallery at 9:30 a.m., for the opening of Corporeal Complexities: Bodies in Progress. In celebration of the exhibition’s opening and the culmination of a semester of work, we’ll have hot coffee and delicious donuts with all the different art pieces as the perfect finals-week combination. Get your first look at this exhibit’s amazing pieces! READ MORE

CVA Invites The High Museum to Jury Statewide Master of Fine Exhibition

facebook poster

CLEMSON — Artists in Master of Fine Arts (MFA) programs at Clemson University, University of South Carolina and Winthrop University teamed with honors students at Clemson University in an undergraduate English Accelerated Composition course to explore and interpret the theme Corporeal Complexities: Bodies in Process. The end result is a juried exhibition of MFA work curated by the honors students. The Coordinator of Museum Interpretation at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, GA, Ginia Sweeney juried the exhibit. The exhibition opens Dec. 10 and closes Jan. 30 with an artist reception Dec. 10, 9:30 – 10:30 a.m. and Juror’s Discussion and Reception occurring Jan. 16, 6 – 7 p.m. in the Lee Gallery on Clemson’s campus.

Corporeal Complexities: Bodies in Process allows artists to explore how an apparently permanent world of seemingly unchanging humans is actually changing quite rapidly. Changes add and intersect with one another to create layers of complexity. The MFA students have explored these complexities, placing the human body in context of an ever-changing world. The artists selected for this exhibition include Laken Bridges, Tanna Burchinal, Vivianne Carey, Lindsey Elsey, Alex Giannell, Lee Ann Harrison, Mary Jane King, Nina Kawar, Joel Murray, Brent Pafford, Caley Pennington, Thomas Seay, Hilary Siber, Moses Tsai, and Samantha Valdez.

This exhibition is the product of an extended collaboration between the Center for Visual Arts and undergraduate honors students in English at Clemson University through the Clemson Curates initiative. Clemson Curates is the product of an interdisciplinary collaboration across the University to promote the arts. Faculty teach experiential-learning courses through a partnership with the CVA, allowing students to gain practical knowledge of how arguments are constructed and analyzed both within classrooms and in the broader world. These courses encourage students to consider different ways of constructing arguments as a core component of Clemson’s mission to emphasize writing across the disciplines. Students learn to consider the arts and visual rhetoric from a variety of perspectives and fields, providing them with a more comprehensive view––taking students from classroom-based knowledge to broader applications both inside and outside the arts.

The contributing students are Caroline Bales, Dustin Brecht, Jon Brownfield, Matthew Carson, Jonathan Drake, Meredith Ellis, Jake Flynn, David Gundana, Alexander Herd, Ethan Kirkland, Joseph Litts, Hannah Mace, Andrew Moore, Sophia Porach, Peter Rowan, Andrew Shumaker, Taylor Thompson, Katie Tobik, and Sean West. These students collaborated with several members of the Clemson University faculty and staff: Denise Woodward-Detrich, Lee Gallery director; John Morgenstern, visiting assistant professor of English; Kathy Edwards, research and collection development librarian; Jan Lay, Clemson computing and information technology technical learning instructor; Meredith Mims McTigue, CVA/art department marketing and public relations director; and Nathan Newsome, CVA-Lee Gallery intern.

The Center for Visual Arts – Lee Gallery at Clemson University will be open for this exhibit M – TH, 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (excluding University holidays) and is located at 1-101 Lee Hall, 323 Fernow Street, Clemson, SC 29634.  Gallery talks and reception are free and open to the public thanks in part to CVA generous donors.  For more information about the Lee Gallery, contact Denise Woodward-Detrich, Director at woodwaw@clemson.edu.

A Glimpse of BFA Senior Exhibits

by Joshua Kelly and Jackie Kuntz Published in The Tiger Newspaper

Hey guys, welcome to the final Perspective column of the semester. For our last culturally enlightening time together, we are going to take a brief look at the Bachelor of Fine Arts students that are graduating this December, previewing their shows and looking quickly at their work. We have a great group of students putting on work this semester, and these are three shows that you are not going to want to miss that will provide a cultural getaway from all the studying that you should be doing for exams in the next few weeks.

“Analogue Interactive” provides viewers with plenty of chances to interact with cutting edge digital technology and see what a space infected with paranoia and obsession looks like.

The artists in the show “Fabricated Perception,” on display in the Lee Hall Gallery from Dec 2-6, deal with creating experiences for their viewers that hope to alter the way that we think about (or often times overlook) everyday happenstances.

Wendy Escobar’s drawings, Jackie Kuntz’ paintings, Kep Pate’s sculptures and Katie Ruggerio’s instillations all share one thing in common — they examine a different facet of human interaction. When viewed all together, the artists and work in “House Blend” help to form a rather complete picture of the human experience, blended together and distilled down to be presented in very personal and very refined formats.

 

Analogue Interactive

Joshua Kelly:

Joshua Kelly’s work is contingent upon the experience of the viewer within the gallery context and the progression of the narrative as one continues through the space. Kelly has constructed a gallery within a gallery, an intimate space for this diorama of tragedies to reside. The story line is based on an allegorical character with aggrandized mental anomalies and personality disorders who has a vision he is destined to a prophetic calling. He finds himself unsatisfied with this role and seeks alternative means of directing his own fate. This pursuit, and a misuse of power, only destroys — wiping out populations in its path — leading him in a final moment of pure transcendence, resolving to rectify these transgressions through self denial and his own ultimate sacrifice. This production deals with notions of fate, prophecy, duty, the divine and destruction as well as inevitable systems of chaos that characterize the world, representing our own want and need for control in our lives. After following the story of this self-destructive hero through this plastered grotto, the viewer turns the last enclaved corner to find him, a dissolving sculpted form, writhing, trapped, tortured, and reaching out — yearning to tell his tragic saga — his last penitential deed.

 

Nate Newsome:

Bringing attention to the side effects of existing in a digital world and being immersed in technology, the interactive projection works by Nate Newsome are sure to captivate and engage viewers in a way they didn’t think possible at a gallery show. He describes his work as “interventions that cause people to think about how we interact and communicate with other people and also [how we interact] with technology itself. People don’t think enough about the effects of constant connectivity and putting all their personal information out on the web.” His employment of some of the latest interactive-projection-based technology in work talking about the dangers of technology may at first seem counter intuitive. However, he hopes that by drawing the viewer into interacting with his piece he can then encourage them to think about just how much of their personal space they willfully but unknowingly forfeit to all of the latest technology.

 

Fabricated Perceptions

Karl Bolinger:

The asphalt road we drive on, streets we cross, dewy fields, spans of dessert, the mountains that crown the horizon: be it urban, country, oceanic or interior, we cannot exist outside of the context of a landscape. Karl Bolinger’s sculptures bring the viewers’ attention to the necessity, beauty and character of the “systems of landscapes” around us. Bolinger uses natural materials collected from the local landscape to highlight “specific details such as the invisible and visible features, elemental forces, the inhabitants, neglected landscapes, interstitial spaces and landscapes of devastation and beauty.”

 

Morgan Cole:

The Internet. Most of us have lived through its creation and development. We learn, shop, research, travel, do business, advertise, promote, explore and connect with others; who can remember a time without it? We all know what the Internet does for us and its impact on our lives, but rarely do we try and intellectually pin down its intangible and substantial nature. Through her paintings, Morgan Cole strives to do just that. She implements architectural references, icons of technology and even some ties to molecular science. The fluorescent blue of her canvases seem to hum with the swarms of data and pixilated information that overwhelm the composition. Deep shifting spaces and seams of portals allude to the possibilities of where this illusive crutch in our lives might reside. With references to the sublime and cosmos, and painted with a luminosity that parallels James Turrell, these futuristic “landscapes” portray the ethereal construct of the technology that now runs and betters our lives.

 

Ryan Powers:

Inspired by human anatomy, science fiction and personal experiences, the life-size ceramic human figures that Ryan Powers constructs bring to focus pain, suffering and the vulnerability of the human body. Powers said, “Clay is important as my medium because it records the tactile experience of building my figural fragments, and its surface references the tension of skin.” The conceptual backing for his work comes from personal history. “The inspiration for my project is due in part to the physical trauma I have experienced and the resulting possible nerve damage. This produces peculiar sensations such as: crawling, tingling, wriggling, constricting, stabbing, prickling and pulsating.” The way he has replicated these sensations with the textures applied to his forms is captivating. Oftentimes in classical sculpture, the human form is used to depict a heroic action. But Powers’ work attempts to undermind that association. His figures, which depict pain, highlight the fragility of the human form and the ease at which they can fall to suffering.

 

Emily Sorgenfrei

Emily Sorgenfrei deals with an issue that many Americans are very familiar with — the drive to consume. Her instillations, made of familiar items like shopping receipts and paint chips, are overwhelming instillations of otherwise recognizable information and artifacts from a consumer-minded culture. However, the purpose of the work is not to critique the need to consume, but simply to analyze and organize the data we encounter in our day to day lives, prompting her viewers to simply be aware of the fact that consumption is a vital and central part of everyone’s lives. Her work shows an alternative method of dealing with the bombardment of consumerism related material and leaves the viewer with a feeling of being overwhelmed by information but also a different perspective on consumerism.

 

 

House Blend

jackie Kuntz:

In her paintings, Jackie Kuntz explores the once prevalent but now seemingly lost dialogue between the written and visual arts. Her process is simple. Start with a poem which she resonates with, read it, meditate on it, absorb it; then paint the image that comes to mind. That is not to suggest that her paintings are mere illustrations of poems she likes — far from that. The symbolic and often allegorical landscapes she creates upon reflection of the chosen poem often do not show an expected rendering but allow the viewer a voyeuristic glance into the mind of the artist. By putting her own process of thought digestion and interpretation on examination in her work, Kuntz’ prompts the viewer to think more critically about the written word, visual narratives and the associations that we have between the two.

 

Katie Ruggerio:

Using both man-made objects and objects from nature, Katie Ruggiero’s instillations focus on the relationship between humans and their natural surroundings. According to Ruggerio, she is “interested in the paradoxical relationship [humans have with] nature, which is marked by feelings of wonderment, fragility and disconnect.” For “House Blend,” her sculptural work will highlight the cultural phenomenon of wanting to be closer to nature juxtaposing the general failure to care for nature that is a common happenstance in the course of human action. “We see nature as something that can be consumed, replaced, cultivated and reproduced continuously. I want to show our ever-increasing disconnection from our environment and the surrounding natural world.” The aesthetic employed in her work is refined and shows influences of minimalism and modernism. Ruggerio’s works offer the viewer quite moments of contemplation about the state of human and nature interaction while being visually captivating in their simplicity and exactness.

 

Kep Pate:

Kep Pate’s sculptures “embrace the adventure of youth’s unquenchable curiosity and merges it with the optimistic spirit of a child’s endless desire to play.” The cartooned styles and references of childhood strike a chord with any viewer who finds themselves approaching the work with an untraced knowing … what is it that they recognize? Whether beginner, student or professional, seasoned wisdom, matured soul or young wonder, Pate’s work does not discriminate. Each piece serves as an invitation to the inner child. Imaginatively built structures, one like a sand castle another a horse, awaken that spirit — no matter how long it may has withered, dormant. The viewer must remind themselves of the gallery confines as they fight the urge to explore, touch, grab and climb — thinking to themselves “the fun I might have had with that as a kid!” If his work had a grin, its corners would be kissed with mischief and sly humor. Won’t you come out and play?

 

Wendy Escobar:

Wendy Escobar’s drawings and paintings are a cognitive portrait of their creator. Autobiographical and narrative, these scenes illustrate the physical, mental and emotional impact of the journey through hardship as they rise, climax, wind, explode and disperse feebly like smoke. In these other worldly spaces, fantastical characters wrestle with the burden of stifled emotions and brace for the prowling danger that lurks by. Though horrifically marred in their affliction, the viewer can’t help but feel sadness for these figures, scarred, writhing and struggling in their bound confines. But pain is not the only fate that characterizes Escobar’s work. The comfort of an embrace, a trace of offered incense, the steadfast roots of an old, twisting tree … slivers of hope whisper a resonance in the work as the characters find a personal grounding within themselves to draw out a relentless strength. In a beautiful build up of bright colors, violent charcoal and torn medium, nothing is more real and raw than the perspective lens and forms of her brilliant but haunting imagination.