East Alabama Arts - Departures - Curatorial Essay 2011

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DeparturesJune 23 August 19, 2011

Feature Gallery & Baggage Room, Opelika Depot

Scribble, Hillary Floyd 2011, oil on wood

Curatorial essay by Stephanie Kime

As a part of our 25 th anniversary season, the Arts Association of East Alabama is proud to present

Departures. This art exhibition will run from June 23 August 19, 2011 at our office in downtown Opelika.

It features the work of recent Auburn University graduates who are now set to embark upon their careers in

the art world. We hope to better acquaint the East Alabama community with these young artists by

providing a showcase for their talent and for the diversity of their art.

The Arts Association of East Alabama, or East Alabama Arts, is located in the historic train depot in

downtown Opelika, which was originally built in 1922. Today the building retains its authentic terrazzo floors

and beautiful stamped-tin, 18 foot-high ceilings. The original ticket office and waiting rooms are now the

offices of East Alabama Arts and Opelika Main Street. A few feet away, the depots baggage room serves


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diverse functions- from reception hall to gallery space. Whereas East Alabama Arts is primarily known in the

area for performance arts, we are also proud to feature a visual arts collection as well as special exhibitions

showcasing both renowned and local artists

Departures highlights the range of artistic talent fostered at Auburn University. The art

department teaches both two-dimensional and three-dimensional arts through drawing, painting,

photography, design, printmaking, ceramics, and sculpture classes. Thanks to this diversity, students are

able to discover their strengths and develop personal artistic objectives. Professors at Auburn

recommended many of the artists included in this exhibition to us after years of hard work and a successful

senior project exhibition. With a sound scholastic background, these artists not only enhance their natural

skills, but also are able to learn about what is emphasized and valued in the contemporary art world. With

this understanding they will be able to create fresh, emergent art that will impact its future. Because each

student is encouraged to find his or her own purpose, every artist in this exhibition communicates a differentmessage.

Kate Mullin takes a traditional subject, portraiture, and brings it to us today with an exciting twist.

With no figurative background, Kate forces viewers to interact personally and emotionally with the subjects

of her paintings. She presents not a peaceful or idyllic interpretation of the human experience but a raw and

vulnerable one. Even the use of the word pressures in each title conveys a sense of confliction. Kate uses

these pieces to ask viewers to contemplate the complexity of human existence for this individual, and by

extension to contemplate their own struggles.

Kathryn Coopers focus is the importance of human relationships. The juxtaposition of both

figuration and abstraction is used to highlight the individual figures in each set of paintings. Being able to

focus on the figures within a larger composition allows a viewer to concentrate on possible relationships

between them. The method is, therefore, used to emphasize the complexity of the human experience in

terms of interpersonal relationships.

Maggie Suttles work defies simple definition. She is influenced by many things, including nature and

science, and uses observation, humor, and irony to create pieces that both comment on and question the

values of our culture. For example, Maggie presents Family Photo in an abstract style that is in no way

typical of a traditional family photograph or portrait. She is therefore questioning family structure in todays

society. Maggies sculptures are constructed from felt, a non-traditional sculptural material that also

conveys her sense of exploration and adventure. Her work is about how both the positive and negative

aspects of society combine to create the general human adventure today.


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Hillary Floyd presents a fantastical and almost dreamlike state in her paintings in this exhibition,

Scribble and Old Floyd House. She explores the lasting effects of how personal experiences affect an

individual. Each painting stems from a particular childhood memory, thus stressing how important each and

every personal experience is upon the development of ones personality and identity.

Like many artists, Stu Taylor works in a variety of styles. In Departures, Stu provides us with three

splatter paintings. This style is most notoriously attributed to Jackson Pollock, and became famous for

expressing the freedom of America in the early to mid 20 th century, especially in opposition to the political

situation in Europe. Still today the splatter style can be read as an expression of freedom- both for our

country and also as a metaphor for the freedom of the artist. By angling some of the canvases and adding

non-traditional materials, Stu is re-inventing this important style of American painting and contributing to its

legacy.

Lisa Trinhs design background is evident in these organic, yet balanced, compositions. Her

influences stem from everyday surroundings, primarily the human body. The skull in her untitled piece,

though initially alarming to some, is actually an extension of an artistic tradition dating back to the 17 th

century. Dutch artists are famous for their momento mori paintings which serve as a gentle reminder to

enjoy what you have while you can because life is fleeting.

Lauren Hegwood also captures our surrounding environment in her works. Sea Dragon and

Stalagmites in Balance stem from observation of the natural world- both animals and nature itself. It is

not, however, the everyday environment Lauren features in these but the exceptional. Her sculpture

represents an effort to express the importance of taking the time to appreciate the beauty and wonder that

exists in the world around us.

Andy Hollidays small ceramics display his technical skills as an artist. It is interesting that he chooses

the word impression for his titles. At first glance, it appears Andy has in fact given us literal replications or

indentations of pitchers and teapots. Upon closer inspection of the pieces, it is clear that they are somewhat

altered notions of these traditional objects. This discrepancy highlights the irony one experiences in society

upon realizing that things are different than they seem. In a larger sense, Andy uses these pieces to

emphasize the fragmentation one can experience on a regular basis. After all, in todays post-modern world,

almost nothing is as it first appears.

Charlie Mabry presents a single, machine-like object in a desolate and minimal environment. Charlies

piece is an example of one of the most important functions of contemporary art. Like other American artists


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today, his body of work does comment on the current political and military situation present in the United

States. Without furthering any one agenda, Charlie presents his art not as a vehicle for change but as a way

to remind viewers of the necessity of contemplating and dealing with issues facing our society. Art has many

functions, and one of them is to provide society with a safe environment in which to explore possibilities.

Together, these artists display the amazing talents fostered at Auburn University and also give us a

small glimpse of what the art world will gain from young artists today. The younger generation will take

what they have learned in art school, interpret it in their own way, and leave the world with a new legacy.

We can already see this coming to fruition in this exhibition with these former students expanding upon

accepted artistic traditions and conventions. East Alabama Arts would like to thank you for taking the time

to visit Departures and taking part in our celebration of these talented artists as they embark on their

careers.

Artist Statements

Kate Mullin

Kate Mullin is a Southern American painter and sculptor. Kate grew up in Columbus, Georgia andreceived a Bachelors of Fine Art from Auburn University in 2011. While attending Auburn, Kate won theDepartment of Art Merit Award in 2010 and the Joyce and Roger Lethander Purchase Award in 2011.

An arising theme in Kates work is the struggle of identity caused by our societys obsession withappearance. She focuses on the psychological break down of an individual who is striving to achieve theideal American appearance.

Kathryn Cooper

My name is Kathryn Cooper and I am a recent graduate of Auburn University, earning a Bachelor ofFine Arts degree with a concentration in painting. I am now living and working in my hometown,Birmingham, AL with the goal of going to graduate school next fall.

The works in this show come from my senior project series, which deals with the relationshipspeople form with each other and how those relationships inevitably change over time. I am interested inhow memories remain although relationships are either strengthened or neglected. In these pieces, I drawfrom memories that I have of family members and the certain way that I picture these individuals in my head.Some memories are sharp and vivid, while others have faded through the years. Having always been drawnto bold pattern and fabrics, I incorporated patterns from family quilts and clothing into these pieces toconvey a feeling of nostalgia. Hopefully the viewer can relate to the imagery and draw connections torelationships in their own life.


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Maggie Suttle

These are difficult times to find a niche in the visual world. Technology allows many varied culturesto be connected and cross pollinated. The same goes for the different creative disciplines and the linesbetween design, art concentrations, illustration, advertising and even cinema are blurring past recognition.Consequently, it becomes much harder to clearly define one's position, label oneself as any one kind ofartist, or subscribe to any single set of ideals.

I have created a body of work in which each piece challenges, questions, yet embraces what Iperceive to be the place of art in the world today and my identity as an artist. This is accomplished by settingup tensions, dualities, irony, or one may even say a certain amount of sarcasm within each work and alsobetween the works. Many of the works utilize a duality between low-fi materials and process, whichsuggests both flippancy towards the traditional and a love for finely crafted work.

The work is cohesive overall but throws many different slices of discipline at the viewer and containsboth personal and universal language. In staying true to my own hand and a certain style I am admittingsomething about how I think of art. I'm arguing the notion that the personality and idiosyncratic tendenciesof the artist are still valuable even in the age of the computer. At the same time it also admits the limitedperspective of one individual and is restrained in its message by not forcefully asserting any one ideal. In thisway the art is about both everything and nothing.

It is filled with ideas and fleeting notions. I poured into it all my doubts and loves, all my strainedthoughts about chaos, nihilism, life, death, identity and purpose, all my questions about why art is the way itis and why its valued the way it is. It has been both a source of therapy and anger. This process is atestament to the value of art in this way, and hopefully some viewer will pick up on these things. They cansense the work and the love of the work at the very least. But in the end, while all these ideas and feelingshave gone into it, the work could really be about nothing. For anyone who can't sense or appreciate thisquestioning struggle, the work could be dismissed as a project about art that only talks to itself.

Hillary Floyd

Hillary Floyd is a recent Fine Arts graduate from Auburn University. She specializes in drawing, oilpainting, ceramics, and mixed media. Being from Monroeville, AL, Hillary relies on her southern childhoodmemories for most of her inspiration. Recurring themes of aging, dreams, storytelling, and family roles alsoappear throughout her work. Currently Hillary is interning with the Birmingham Museum of Art and workingtowards applying to graduate school.

Lauren Hegwood

I was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada and moved to Alabama in 2005. It was there, after spending countless hours making my high school projects into works of art, I realized my path would leadme into an artistic profession.


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Studying at Auburn University to receive a bachelors degree in Graphic Design I was privileged withthe opportunity to pursue one of my life long goals of taking sculpture. I love working with all types ofmaterials that bring my artwork into the round.

My recent work exhibited reflects the fascination I have with the structure and constructiondemonstrated in nature. In Stalagmites in Balance, the simplicity of water dripping to create breathtakingstructures in caves gave me the inspiration to interpret my own version of that process. I also have a deeppassion for the ocean, and in my piece Sea Dragon, I depict the skeletal structure of a sea dragon as acontour drawing while leaving sections of the skin visible. The animal is absolutely beautiful and I wanted thestructure of the body to be the main focal point.

Special Thanks

Barb Bondy

Jon Byler

Barry Fleming

Kathryn Floyd

Chuck Hemard

Andy Holliday

Christopher McNulty

Daniel Neil

Delanne Robertson

Gary Wagoner

A presentation of

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East Alabama Arts - Departures - Curatorial Essay 2011