Faculty exhibition features art, video
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 7:55PM By Frances Parrish
parrishf@mytjnow.com
From Nov. 14 through Jan. 20, Rutledge hosted two faculty art exhibits. Rutledge Gallery featured an exhibit titled “New Works” which consisted of art work from Paul Martyka and Marge Moody.
Martyka displayed six works of art including 2 Dec. 1859: Days Yet To Be Done. Martyka explains that the piece was in memory of John Brown, a pre-Civil War abolitionist, who was hanged on Dec. 2, 1859. Marge Moody displayed four paintings titled the Chicago Series: In Your Dreams: Phantasm, Chicago Series: In Your Dreams: Chandelier, Chicago Series: In Your Dreams: Scenario and Chicago Series: In Your Dreams: Scenario II.
Another part of the exhibit was a video installation. The video, titled “Fioretti- Little Flowers,” was created by Phil Moody, Gerry Derksen, Ron Parks and Leonard Mark Lewis.
Moody said the poem “Morning Glory” by St. Siegfried Sassoon, a WWI poet, inspired him to make the video consisting of two screens depicting random nature images simultaneously set to music. Some of the images were from Rock Hill area, but most of them were from Moody’s travels in Italy.
“[St. Siegfried Sassoon] was an inspiration to me growing up,” Moody said.
Derksen explained some of the challenges with creating the video on two separate screens.
“We had to get both projections running at the same hundredth of a second,” Derksen said.
He also said one screen told part of a story with the images while the other screen showed a different perspective or manipulated images. Lewis and Parks were the composers of the music playing in the background of the video.
“Voice, cello and a computer were the only instruments in the music,” Parks said.
Parks added that he used a computer software program to alter some of the music to create a unique sound.
“The video was successful. I’ve never done anything like this before,” Moody said.
The Elizabeth Dunlap Patrick Gallery featured an exhibit titled, “Shift,” which consisted of seven faculty members of the art department. However, this art exhibit was not for the individual. The faculty got into groups and worked together to create a piece of art.
“[Shift is] an attempt to encourage artists to collaborate with one another, and as a result to begin to shift their thinking about the creative process,” said Tom Stanley, chair of fine arts; associate professor of fine arts; program advisor for master of fine arts.
One featured piece of the gallery was by Courtney Starrett and Mark Hamilton called Destinaire. Hamilton explains that he and Starrett created the images from inspiration of their kids, hometowns, and patterns.
Another featured piece was created by Tom Stanley and Eliana Arenas-O’Neil. Stanley said that he was responding to Arenas-O’Neil’s inspiration of her hometown, Juarez, Mexico, in the artwork that featured hanging chains and profiles of faces with the wall as a canvas.
Shaun Cassidy, Seth Rouser and Gerry Derksen worked together to create Crossing, a projection activated by a sonar micro sensor. Rouser explains that this piece is interactive with the viewer, and as the viewer gets closer to the projection, the image and the sounds are continuous.
“We basically [made] the viewer a human gas pedal,” Rouser said.
Rutledge will have more exhibits and artist talks in the near future.
For more information about the Spring 2012 schedule for Winthrop Galleries, visit the website: http://www2.winthrop.edu/vpa/Galleries/WUG_S12.htm
