By: KATE LUCE
Staff Writer
katelucellc@gmail.com
The gallery in the Education and Arts Building hosted its annual faculty show Thursday, Sept. 14. The show featured past and present staff members’ works, allowing the students and community to get a sense of IU South Bend’s fine arts past and present professors’ passions, personal lives and their ways of seeing the world around them.
This Faculty show is an annual event that has been shown in the Gallery for the past four years. It will be on display for the public for the next six weeks, and it is the only show put on by the gallery that just includes faculty work.
“We had a good amount of entries—just about everybody who teaches in Fine Arts. The majority are here, even the adjunct instructors. Students are also really excited about the work. I call that success,” Josh Miller, gallery director, said.
From painting and sculpting, to new media projects and conceptual work, art present at the annual show varied immensely from professor to professor, and although some work was in the same media, each professor has their own voice in their work.
“This work, and most of my work, deals with how the camera sees the world and illustrates the world,” Professor Susan Moore said. “Our world is three-dimensional and we see the world in color, for most people. [My work deals with] how the camera and black and white film is different and the same than reality, how the camera can abstract reality, and then, the photograph becomes an object in of itself.”
As for other professors, their work was less about the conceptual side of art, and more toward the historic and symbolic side of art.
“As a printmaker, scroll is the original book form, so I am kind of looking back in the history of printmaking and finding a place for myself in that. The chinese then folded it into an accordion book, so I am making work in that original content,” Professor William Tourtillotte, said.
Although most students came voluntarily to the show or came due to a teacher recommendation, new media professor Sean Hottois assigned his class to attend the show to get a sense of what other fine arts professors make. This out of the ordinary experience, made the New Media class get a sense of IUSB’s vast and expanding art world.
“Our instructor wanted us to look at and actually analyze art because we usually don’t. We usually just look at it and move on from it,” Justice Riley, freshman in Hottois’ new media class, said.
Students who came to the opening voluntarily were also impressed by the different perspectives, techniques and meanings professors used.
“I like to see different techniques and materials that artists use in their paintings and art. I like to see which one brings out certain details, and I like to read about different artists, especially local ones. Usually when I walk past here it is dark, so this is my first time actually coming in here and looking at the art,” Hannah Hess, sophomore, said.
For many of the professors, this annual show allows them to connect with the community, their students and their colleagues. No matter how many times they have been a part of it, the experience is worthwhile.
Although for others, it was a way to give their students a sample of their work, so they can better understand a professor’s viewpoints and opinions on certain art styles.
“It is important for students, primarily, to come and see the type of work their professors are creating. They start to be able to form some kind of opinion on why they support certain ideas or push students in certain directions,” Professor Angelo Ray Martinez, said.
The faculty show’s opening may be over, but the show itself is still up and open to the student body and community for the next six weeks. The gallery is open from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and is free for anyone to come and explore.
