Click … just like that you’re in the gallery. Pacing … orienting your mind to the works in front of you.The Guilford College Art Faculty Biennial Exhibition in the Hege Library has the variety to grab any of us whether it’s through black and white photography, delicate wood carvings, pottery, abstract paintings, or even exhibits made of tea bags and human hair.
”I was really impressed; I have not had the opportunity to take a class with any of them [art professors], but I’m grateful I got to see their work in our library,” said senior Jasmine Fouts.
“The costume of human hair was an incredible act of creativity,” said senior Alla Khmeleva. “ It’s so classy and provocative. I mean it is an artifact made out of a part of our bodies. It is part of us.”
Heea Crownfield, a visiting assistant professor of art at Guilford, is the artist behind the human hair statue and the tea bag displays. Crownfield’s medium is sculpture, and she shows us much in her displays in terms of the limitless places you can explore with art.
In one exhibit, she has stuffed poetry into jars of honey, making us all contort ourselves to read what we can. Crownfield will give a talk on her work in the gallery on Wednesday, Oct. 17, from 12:45-1:30.
Crownfield is joined by eight other artists in the gallery: Maia Dery (photography), Todd Drake (painting), Shawn Linehan (photography), Michael Northius (painting and sculpture), Roy Nydorf (sculpture), Molly Stouten (printmaking), Charles Tefft (ceramics), Adele Wayman (painting and mixed media). In order to have a place in the gallery, professors need to have taught art at Guilford since the previous Biennial Exhibition. All of these artists have joined forces to make a truly original gallery.
”As a painter I see myself as a door through which images enter this world,” said Todd Drake. Drake has added a few abstract paintings to the show that he feels are not finished yet. He has set journals next to his work, asking us to help him finish the job. His paintings are chock full of vibrant colors and inch-worm compositions, with diagonals falling all over each other.
Michael Northius has brought a southwestern feel into the gallery. His painting Surrealist Cowboy is its own little fantasy land, with bright colors and little characters. Northius gives us an oil painting, drawings, and two wood carvings. His talk will be on Wednesday, Nov. 21, at 12:45-1:30.
Adele Wayman, Hege professor of art at Guilford, has given us two abstract paintings and an installment. Her work splashes intense emerald greens over various pickings from nature and such. She brings it all together in a smorgasbord of lines and textures. Wayman will talk about her work on Wednesday, Oct. 10, from 12:45-1:30.
Shawn Linehan has given three large color photography prints. Her pictures bring us right in on the subject, showing us just how much you can find if you look close enough. The result is balanced, colorful works in which you can always find something new.
Molly Stouten has two dynamic prints in the show. They remind me of etch-a-sketch when I was little, with thousands of scratchy lines smashing abruptly together. The images have a constantly changing focal point and a mystery surrounding them that makes you take a second, and then a third look. Stouten will be talking on Wednesday, Nov. 28th, from 12:45-1:30.
Maia Dery offers three fabulous black and white landscape compositions. She has proven to me that you really never can get enough of the beauties around us. Dery has a wonderful eye for spotting and then translating an image through her photography. She shows great natural talent as well as being technically sound. Dery will talk on Oct. 31.
Roy Nydorf, a professor of art at Guilford, has added a collection of wood carvings to the mix. It is a collection of great figures, all of which have expressive little faces that are highlighted by the natural grain and curvature of the wood. Nydorf has taken the designs that nature has made and enhanced them to express his figures. Nydorf will give his talk on Wednesday, Nov. 14, from 12:45-1:30.
Charles Tefft, ceramics professor, has given the gallery a great collection of pottery.
”The pottery was well done,” said Lori Langford, who graduated from Guilford in ’83. “I was looking at some [pottery] the other day and couldn’t find any that I liked, but these are great.” Tefft will speak on Nov. 7.
All in all, this is a great show in our library that everyone should check out if they get the chance. These artists have all come together and mixed to make you sit back and think . . . and that is what you should be doing.