End-of-semester art show celebrates research, creativity

The end of the semester is a busy time for students across campus. It means final exams, completing research papers, finishing projects, and for graduating Bachelor of Fine Arts students, a celebration of years of research with a show of their artwork in the John A. Day Gallery.

Each semester, the Univeristy Art Galleries (UAG) brings in a host of exhibitions for students and the community to experience and use as a learning and research tool.

As a graduate research assistant in the gallery, I benefit from each exhibit through direct hands-on experience with the artwork through installation, handling the work and research.

This semester the gallery hosted the works of artists from diverse backgrounds from across the country, including artworks from contemporary artists working in urban areas such as Chicago and New York, and it also displayed artworks from the UAG permanent collection which included Japanese prints dating back to 1750.

Visual Art students learn about the professional experience of the artist’s life, directly from the works of their professors in the Art Department.

Every year the UAG presents a Faculty Award, which is a research opportunity for the faculty to create a new body of work and exhibit that work in the John A. Day Gallery. For students, it provides an opportunity to engage with faculty about professional aspects of being an exhibiting artist.

Installing a graduating show is a labor-intensive process that is the outcome of a five-year long creative research process for a BFA student. Painters, printmakers, photographers, graphic designers, ceramicists and sculpture students present their artwork in the large white gallery space in the Warren M. Lee Center for the Fine Arts.

The students create the promotional materials for the show and write press releases and artist statements which explain the ideas and concepts that have influenced their work.

These shows exhibit the researched and crafted artworks fine arts students are creating in the department. Graduating students are exemplifying a variety of materials and processes.

Erin Mathisen uses clay as her medium to create figurative ceramic sculptures that exist in a dreamlike state. Her artworks employ the elements of earth and fire for her process, in comparison to Alison Galbraith who refers to elements of nature in her work by using the contemporary media of video projection.

Liz Nehlich brings nature into the gallery with her artwork. She explores her ideas through non-art materials, creating artwork by growing grass plants, which need to be carefully watered throughout the duration of the show.

Calvin LaBrie explores the idea of the object and memory using graphic design, creating a participatory experience with his installation. Young Jae Kim refers to contemporary political and social issues between Korea and Japan using the processes of printmaking, creating a scroll work.

“Parts of Us, Apart From Us”  is on display through Dec. 12 in the John A. Day Gallery.

As an artist and a student, I enjoy experiencing other artists’ work and talking to them about their working processes. Graduating shows are a great opportunity to exchange ideas and reflect, to celebrate the end of a semester and to celebrate our peers and the strong artwork and community of USD’s Art Department.

(Photo: Senior Calvin LaBrie’s piece of art hangs in the John A. Day Gallery in the Warren M. Lee Center for the Fine Arts. Brie’s installation explores the idea of the object and memory using graphic design, creating a participatory experience. Amy Fill / The Volante)