CARLY KNASZAK
Staff Writer
Fredonia is known for taking great pride in the talented artists on campus. In the Marion Art Gallery, 70 students in the Visual Art and New Media Department currently have art pieces featured entitled “Fredonia Showcase 2015.” The artwork includes paintings, videos, sculptures, photography and graphic design.
Gianna Ligammari — a junior animation and illustration major — has her drawing, “Kukuroo,” featured in the gallery.
“I absolutely love creating characters, and so the project around this piece was a lot of fun for me,” Ligammari said. The painting catches the viewer’s eye with different shades of blue and a hint of red and pink around the character’s eye.
“We had to create concept art and a backstory for a human and creature hybrid character using one of our classmates, in combination with a sea creature of our choice,” Ligammari said.
“I went through a lot of different creatures and designs before settling on this one. Angler fish are just so fascinating and just like how the male anglerfish is fused to his partner in that fizzingly romantic mating-dance-of-death, I fused a female anglerfish to my male classmate’s head.” Ligammari said. “I fashioned the design to look like a hood and, while you could call her a stylish accessory, I certainly call her the brains of the operation.”
Ligammari designed “Kukuroo” entirely on Photoshop using a Wacom drawing tablet.
Alisia Rodriguez is a junior and has a painting/drawing concentration in the visual arts major. Her piece “Skin” is a piece that most people can relate to. It is a painting of a girl’s torso; she is squeezing the extra skin on her stomach.
“I have had a rough few years battling horrible self-esteem issues, and this painting is a bit of a celebration of overcoming those issues,” Rodriguez said. “When I was at my worst point, I would weigh myself constantly. At every weigh in, I would have to push on my stomach to be able to see the number on the scale. The pushing would be the absolute worst part of my day. Thankfully, I am in a place in my life now where when I look at myself in the mirror — at all my rolls, stretch marks and shape — I can’t help but see a beautiful landscape. So this piece is celebrating my body and positive, loving feelings towards it,” Rodriguez said. “Skin” took around three weeks to complete and is done in oil paints.
Multiple sculptures in the gallery are called “Growing Up In Color” by Ryan Huff, junior visual arts and new media major. The sculptures have rather bright colors and overly dramatic features, as if they came right out of a cartoon. One sculpture even had excessively hairy legs.
“As a collection, they’re depictions of complex situations from the perspective of a child,” Huff said. “I’m interested in moments that you go through at a young age that you don’t really know are serious until you’re older and reflect back on them. In general though, I currently make the art that I do in order to retain my sense of wonder as I grow older.”
Edward Callivan, who is a sophomore visual arts and new media major, decided to take a different approach to some of the art in the gallery. He made a video called “Exorcism of The Rose,” which featured cartoon silhouette-like characters who perform an exorcism on a woman. The opening credits say, “In 1975 a woman named Anneliese Rose began the unusual diet of eating only spiders.”
“My main inspiration for ‘Exorcism’ was naturally the whole act of exorcisms, the story of Anneliese Michel and two main movies — The Exorcist and The Exorcism of Emily Rose,” Callivan said. “I’ve always been a fan of scary films and the whole demonic film genre; so I tried to recreate that sort of feeling when I was drawing up storyboards for the video. Plus the supposed true story around the Exorcism of Anneliese really got the gears grinding in my head on what could have happened behind the unholy mystery of the story. Also, I really wanted to give that same sort of scary to the viewers that they would experience in a Hollywood-done horror film, which I hope I did with a few black construction paper puppets.”
Cecelia Price has one of her series of paintings, called “Surrender,” currently featured in the gallery. Price studied at Niagara County Community College with an associate’s degree in fine arts and graduated in 2013. She then enrolled in Fredonia in 2013 and is working towards a bachelor’s degree in fine arts with a drawing and painting concentration.
“Surrender” is a rather intimate piece that involves a naked man and woman dressed in risqué clothing being touched in a heated moment.
“The concept for this series is based on the artist’s past, present and future. The attitude that women are made for using and abusing would be the basis for almost every relationship she would have. After letting guys treat her like crap and walk over her, she finally started to stand up for herself. She wants to dominate her life, not sit back and let someone else control it for her,” Price said.
“The half of the series you’ll be exposed to is called ‘Dominator,’ and the work reflects the present. It depicts Ivy taking control of the situation and the things that happen to her,” said Price. “More importantly, it empowers her and begins to provide a perspective on what happens in her future. ‘Dangerous’ is inviting you to take look at yourself and ask if you like the monster you’ve become.”
The exhibition runs through Feb. 19, and gallery hours are noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday and noon to 6 p.m. Friday-Saturday.