This past week, on March 8, I had my final art show at Denison.
Every academic year, the Studio Art department hosts an art show for the minors; When the chair of the department reached out to all of us minors, I was initially hesitant about participating. I didn’t have any recent work to show. All the work I had completed at the time, I didn’t really feel a connection with it anymore, and I felt as though it would be expressing my past self rather than the person I am now. Thankfully, I’m taking an Introduction to Painting class this semester with Professor Spencer (if you don’t know who he is, you should!), and there was an assignment prompt that interested me. We were to take one painting from the first project we did in the semester (creating 50 paintings), and do something different with it, inspired by the ideology of artist Jasper Johns. Johns created several iterations of the same pieces of work throughout his career, because he felt as though it kept his work fresh and kept his creative thoughts flowing.
For the assignment prompt there were several criteria we had to meet. For example, we had to distort or orient the picture plain differently, use collage techniques, and paint it on something that you wouldn’t typically paint on. These were just a few of the requirements. I was excited to start the assignment, and the best part was, it was to be due before the minor show! I would actually have work that was representative of my most recent self. Though I can’t show them here, the work turned out amazing, and the installation in the Bryant Gallery was perfect.
Flash forward to March 8. The opening reception for the show had a great turnout. All of the minors created some really amazing work. My family and friends came to show their support. It was fun, and a nice break from the big ball of stress this semester has been so far.
If you have time after Spring Break, be sure to stop by the gallery on the 4th floor of Bryant to see all of the work!