2008 Woodie Awards
MFA students expose a collection of distinctive, unique artworks
Niketa Reed
Issue date: 2/25/08 Section: Life & Style
In a testament to a culture as idiosyncratic as their styles, the UA graduate art exhibit, "Southern Exposure," will be displayed at the Anne Kittrell Art Gallery in the Union until through Thursday.
Each year, graduate students of the Masters of Fine Arts program in the art department present an exhibition of their work before completing their degrees. This year's collection features works in media such as fabrics, pen and ink, acrylics, oil on canvas and manipulated photographs.
"As graduate students in art at the UA we have found a common theme that runs through all of our work: exposure," said MFA student Kelsey Felthousen. "Be it the exposure of private spaces, personal traumas or intimate moments, this collection of works shows the diversity that the UA art program has to offer, as well as one of the many threads that connects it."
University Programs art chairman Zachary Mosley, a former intern for the UA Fine Arts gallery, is enthusiastic about the variety and quality of work of this year's student exhibit.
"This is a completely student-run gallery, and I try to have a variety of student work, local and national artists," Mosley said. "[MFA students] want something official to send out to employers, to other artists and institutions so they can prove that they have een in a legitimate art exhibition. It's not just to fill the walls of the gallery, but also to enhance the career opportunities of the graduate students."
Craig Voligny's pieces, "Tree Shadows" and "Billboard," represent his work in the exhibit.
A well-traveled artist, Voligny has lived in China for seven years and owns a commercial fishing operation in Alaska where he has traveled to for the past 13 summers, he said.
Voligny earned a BFA in painting in 1996 from the Columbus College of Art and Design.
"In my paintings, the ones in the show, I am taking the local environment and incorporating culturally and historically loaded imagery, which says something of what has happened and is happening in the context of this landscape. I have purposely tried to create a visual sense of fantasy next to some more brooding social issues such as immigration, racism, et cetera, to create a mental /visual dichotomy for the viewer," he said.
Each year, graduate students of the Masters of Fine Arts program in the art department present an exhibition of their work before completing their degrees. This year's collection features works in media such as fabrics, pen and ink, acrylics, oil on canvas and manipulated photographs.
"As graduate students in art at the UA we have found a common theme that runs through all of our work: exposure," said MFA student Kelsey Felthousen. "Be it the exposure of private spaces, personal traumas or intimate moments, this collection of works shows the diversity that the UA art program has to offer, as well as one of the many threads that connects it."
University Programs art chairman Zachary Mosley, a former intern for the UA Fine Arts gallery, is enthusiastic about the variety and quality of work of this year's student exhibit.
"This is a completely student-run gallery, and I try to have a variety of student work, local and national artists," Mosley said. "[MFA students] want something official to send out to employers, to other artists and institutions so they can prove that they have een in a legitimate art exhibition. It's not just to fill the walls of the gallery, but also to enhance the career opportunities of the graduate students."
Craig Voligny's pieces, "Tree Shadows" and "Billboard," represent his work in the exhibit.
A well-traveled artist, Voligny has lived in China for seven years and owns a commercial fishing operation in Alaska where he has traveled to for the past 13 summers, he said.
Voligny earned a BFA in painting in 1996 from the Columbus College of Art and Design.
"In my paintings, the ones in the show, I am taking the local environment and incorporating culturally and historically loaded imagery, which says something of what has happened and is happening in the context of this landscape. I have purposely tried to create a visual sense of fantasy next to some more brooding social issues such as immigration, racism, et cetera, to create a mental /visual dichotomy for the viewer," he said.
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