By Elizabeth Hartmann & Ethan Rice | Echo
Photographs. Sculptures. Drawings. Paintings. Graphic designs. Taylor's campus is full of talented artists.
The all-student art show invited students from all over campus, regardless of their major, to submit their artwork and be displayed in the Metcalf Gallery, as well as compete for awards from a jury.
Ryan James, assistant professor of art, shared his excitement for the show, calling it one of his favorite events on campus.
"I love seeing the talent of our students, especially of those who don't frequent Metcalf," James said. "There are a lot of skilled artists on campus, it's such a joy to give them this outlet to display their work publicly. We have a guest juror come to campus to assign the awards, one of which comes with a ($1,000) prize! It's always fun to give people money for the artwork they've created."
Senior Leslie Clouse, a graphic design and photography major, said the all-student art show was a great opportunity to show off artwork and see what other students have been working on for the past year.
Clouse entered a photo book publication called "Bench." It is a compilation of photographs of women sitting and laying on and around a bench she created in the fall. The tightly cropped images emphasize the negative and positive shapes, space and contrast.
"I hope when people encounter my work they see beauty found in people and design," Clouse said. "There is not hidden message, just elegance and simplicity found in elements."
Sophomore Erica Bell, an arts education major, has eight pieces in the show. She has four paintings of scenes around campus, three drawings and one sculpture.
The sculpture is a life-sized sheep made from cardboard. This sculpture called, "Weary Sheep," is a self portrait made for her final project in her three-dimensional design class last fall. Inspired by the scriptural imagery of sheep, Bell feels the sheep represents her spiritual struggles last semester.
The sheep illustrates Bell's journey to discovering how she can follow Jesus and how He can embrace her qualities. The sheep is created to look tired with messy, matted, untamed fur and horns to represent Bell's stubbornness.
Bell loves what she does and submitted her work to display the things she has been working hard on. She hopes people walk away from the all-student art show with an appreciation for the talent these artists have and the hard work they have put into their pieces.
"I hope they leave with questions and I hope they seek out the artists and ask questions to learn more about their work and their ideas (because) a lot of them have incredible ideas," Bell said.
Senior illustration major Sammi Lawson has four pieces in the show. Three are illustrations and the fourth is a book of her illustrations.
Her first illustration is of a lion and porcupine who are watching the stars at dusk and enjoying their friendship. Her second piece is based on minimization and the idea of denying emotions. This visual depiction is currently the image of a wave, but Lawson intends to Photoshop in a sloth who is unaware of the wave behind him.
Lawson hopes people walk away from her work with a greater sense of beauty and wonder.
James is excited to highlight the love that Taylor has for student artwork, no matter what corner of campus it comes from. He attributes this to art's power to add beauty to our environment and its ability to inspire and reveal truth to those who engage with it. All of campus is invited to come to the opening reception and awards ceremony tonight to find new truths revealed by their peers.
