Raleigh Hightower
Lifestyle Editor
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Art and Design students in Art 399, professional practices in art, have contributed a wide variety of art pieces to the Professional Blend XII exhibit.
The Professional Blend exhibit is hosted every semester by the Department of Art and Design to provide students with an introduction to the professional world of artists.
According to a gallery statement by Director of University Galleries T. Michael Martin, “The Art 399 professional practices in art course is designed to explore the materials, skills, qualifications and strategies necessary for our students to begin and sustain a career in the arts.”
The exhibit is featured in the Mary Ed Mecoy Hall Gallery and features art in several different mediums. The artwork of different students throughout the department of art and design are featured.
Junior studio art major Olivia Swaidner contributed three different oil paintings to the exhibit. The first of these oil paintings is a landscape painting titled, “Extraordinary,” which depicts two towering mountains underneath a pink sky.
Swaidner’s second landscape is an untitled piece that depicts rolling hills, green forests and a still lake that sits in the valley created by the hills. Swaidner also contributed an untitled still life painting.
“This exhibition has been very fun so far as it was my first time having my art in a gallery,” Swaidner said. “I have been able to see more behind-the-scenes details that happen in installing an exhibition and have gained some experience in doing that.”
Three prints in the exhibit were contributed by senior art education major, Laurie Snellen. Snellen’s first print, titled “Lady Wisteria,” features a female figure surrounded by plants. The figure is wrapped in vines and has hair that resembles plants.
Snellen’s other prints use invasive plants as a motif. Her print “Trapped by Invaders” features a bird perched on leaves behind bars. The third print is titled “Native Over Invasive.”
“These works, like many of my current works, focus on lesser talked or known environmental topics, such as the importance of prioritizing native plant and animal species over others with the aim of starting a conversation,” Snellen said.
In addition to paintings and prints, the exhibit also features many three-dimensional objects, such as ceramics and woodworking.
One such woodwork was a piece titled “Framed Trypophobia,” by Cross Berry. According to Verywell Mind’s website, trypophobia is defined as “an aversion or fear of clusters of small holes, bumps or patterns.”
Berry’s piece is done on sapele and poplar wood. The piece features a dark slab of wood acting as a backdrop, while a lighter-colored wood features gaping red holes filled with clusters of smaller holes.
Michael Crabtree, a nontradtional senior art education major, also contributed a ceramic sculpture. Crabtree’s ceramic, titled “Sam and Biscuit,” features a bearded man in a straw hat sitting on a stump or rock with his dog.
“The small sculpture is of an old man and his dog completely made up from my imagination,” Crabtree said. “I am interested in the relationships we have with dogs. I was trying to capture a sweet moment between these two characters; I don’t know how successful I was at that, but I think it is a funny sculpture.”
For many of the students featured in the exhibit, this has been their first experience displaying their work in a gallery.
“What I’ve enjoyed most is knowing that my artwork is in a position to do what I worked hard for it to do in a way my art has never been before,” Snellen said. “It has only made me more driven to make art for future exhibitions and start conversations.”
They also found the experience of installing their exhibits to be very insightful. Junior studio art major Miranda Tynes elaborated on this insight.
“I learned some valuable skills while working with the other students and installing the art, and I definitely will feel more comfortable installing work in galleries from now on,” Tynes said. “I liked putting my technical skills to use in the gallery, and I could see myself doing that more in the future.”
The Professional Blend XII exhibit will remain open to the public through March 4. The University Galleries are open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The Department of Art and Design will also be hosting its annual student- juried exhibit, “The OMAS Show,” starting March 11. The exhibit will be displayed March 11 through 29, and a reception event will be held for the exhibit on March 11 at 5 p.m.
The department will be taking submissions from students March 2 through 4, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Students in the Organization of Murray Art Students will receive two free submissions. All students are welcome to submit to the show.