Written by: Benjamin Amos
(Andy Bao/The Independent)
The Archer Gallery kickstarted the Fall season with its Art Faculty Biennial, a show that runs until Nov. 4 and displays the works of members from the art department.
“The spirit of the art show is really an opportunity for students to be able to see their professors work,” director of Archer Gallery and head of photography Senseney Stokes said.
She also said the show would allow students a glimpse of their professors’ lives outside school and what they’re doing in their art careers.
The works include a variety of mediums such as graphic design, ceramic, painting, photography, taxidermy and sculpture — all created exclusively by art department faculty members, most of which are adjunct.
“Basically, something like of 85 percent of the workload is handled by adjunct faculty, so something like 85 of the art department is adjunct,” Hottle said.
Stokes said that “Pretty much all the studio artists have a piece in the show.”
According to her, about 90 percent of the art faculty, four full time instructors and 18 adjunct instructors, submitted work to the gallery.
Stokes has her own piece, a photo collage involving taxidermy animals and “lots of fake blood,” put on display.
“It’s like a metaphor for essentially the disconnect between self-service and desire,” she said about her piece. “The complex between that and the collective good.”
She also said that it’s not rare for the college to have an art show dedicated to faculty. There’s been one for at least 20 of the 30 years Archer Gallery has been open.
(Andy Bao/The Independent)
“Just from being in their class you notice all the little details they taught you,” art student Olivia Lehtonen said about the work.
Instructor Ben Rosenberg’s piece features eight lifeless birds crafted in ink, watercolors and pencils. The artwork next to Rosenberg’s depicts hawks descending on prey, and a taxidermy rabbit lying in a pool of blood, and a boy silently celebrating his birthday alone.
In an email, Rosenburg, described the context of his piece, “Like an urban archaeologist, I view these birds as fragments of unintentional design and see myself as a participant in an unspoken conversation. These works are about the transition between life and death embracing the whole of the journey and not looking away.”
“It kind of shows you the possibilities of what you could be doing,” Rosenberg said.
The gallery will also hold receptions for the show Oct. 25-26 from 1 to 3 p.m. both days.
