AMBER MATTICE
Staff Writer
On Oct. 23, the Department of Visual Arts and New Media Faculty Exhibition opened in an unusual style in the Marion Art Gallery of the Rockefeller Arts Center.
The student jazz group, Weapons of Jazz Destruction, performed almost the entire night and other musicians were also present, adding to the feeling of constant motion that permeated the gallery.
The gallery itself was overflowing with students, faculty and community members ready to experience the art surrounding them firsthand. The artists themselves were also present, waiting to see their artwork come to life before their students, family and friends.
Conversation buzzed throughout the room as people discussed the pieces around them and made their way through the maze created by a mixture of large and small displays.
Jason Dilworth, one of the artists present, stated, “It means a lot to show my work to my students.” Dilworth is a graphic design professor whose piece “North America” depicted his journey from Canada to St. Louis.
“North America” is series of handmade books and prints with heavy graphic design elements. It told an intricate story, and perhaps the most interesting thing about it was the fact that the individual prints were there for the viewers to take.
“It crosses the line between the ephemeral and the precious,” said Dilworth.
There were a variety of media involved in this art exhibition. From prints to animation to story blankets, there was a wide range of things to view and analyze.
Every artist had created something entirely unique from the piece next to it, yet everything somehow seemed to flow together beautifully.
One piece that seemed to have every attendant mesmerized was “Swift” created by professor Peter Tucker. His piece, upon first entering the exhibit, looked like a wooden sculpture standing up perfectly straight and folded into itself.
However, about half an hour into the exhibition his piece literally came to life. Professor Terry Beck, who commissioned the piece, performed a short dance performance that interacted with Tucker’s installation and set it in motion.
It branched out into something much larger, and did so in such a fluid way that Beck’s dance seemed to imitate the motions of the sculpture itself.
It was amazing to watch and was also an unexpected interaction with the artwork. Tucker informed onlookers that the design for the massive sculpture was based on a yarn-swift, just on a larger scale.
“[It was] thrilling to see the musicians and dancers interacting with my piece,” Tucker stated when asked what it was like to have his piece displayed in an art gallery on campus.
Overall, the exhibition was a flurry of media, ideas and artistic expression. Every artist and art student present seemed to be engaged and delighted by all of the different forms of expression around them.
The displayed artwork illustrated the concept of diversity and individual thought in a way no one could have anticipated. The various forms of artwork reached a new level of fascinating as pieces came to life, either through physical motion or animation, and each artist was represented in a different but equally memorable way. The exhibition will be on public display during regular hours in the Marion Gallery until Nov. 20.