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May Issue 2005
City Art Gallery in Columbia, SC, Offers 3rd Annual Emerging Artists Exhibition
City Art Gallery in Columbia, SC, once again presents exceptionally talented emerging artists for School's Out III: Emerging Artists of the Southeast. The exhibit will be on view through May 28, 2005.
For the third consecutive year City Art has conducted a competition seeking recent MFAs, BAs, and BFAs of the southeastern region, and now looks forward to presenting its third generation of talented new artists. The exhibit features work that encompasses a variety of media and that exemplifies exciting new directions in contemporary art.
School's Out III results from a nominating process in which City Art asked studio art faculty members throughout Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama to identify their most talented graduating artists - those who are, in their estimation, significant enough to have a chance at success in the competitive art culture. In a twist from the previous selection process, this year City Art also elected to trust the talents of Melanie Neil, a senior art student at Columbia College, to curate this year's show. Neil, who helped to curate a show of Native American art at Columbia College this past year, tirelessly poured over the applicants and chose those artists both who displayed high levels of professionalism and whose work, when shown together, would exemplify the tempo of the contemporary visual culture in the southeast.
Featuring these talented emerging
artists, this year's exhibit at City Art will be strong on technical
skills and creative visions in oils, mixed media, photography,
sculpture, and installation. Participating artists include: Jim
Arendt, MFA candidate at the University of South Carolina; Hadley
Breckenridge, MFA candidate at Georgia State University; Jennifer
Drinkwater, MFA candidate at East Carolina University; Andrew
Hayes, BFA candidate at the University of South Carolina; Gregory
Hopkins, MFA candidate at the Rhode Island School of Design, BA
and MA University of Alabama; Lauren Kussro, MFA candidate at
the University of Tennessee; Erin Murphy, MFA candidate at the
University of Tennessee; Theresa Sporer, MFA candidate at the
University of Georgia; Jason Wech, MFA candidate at the University
of Georgia; and Addison Will, MFA candidate at Georgia State University.
Jim Arendt
Jim Arendt, MFA candidate at the
University of South Carolina was selected because of his surreal
paintings that are rich in content. Arendt uses painting as a
way to "echo the cycle of seasonal death, unemployment, natural
disasters, and loss" that his family encountered as farm
owners. His dramatic paintings use an apolocalyptic format to
convey the uncertainty and economic hardship that resulted from
the "low-level disasters" that his family faced. Still,
the paintings maintain a sense of hope for a better future.
Arendt has received the 2005 Excellence in Teaching Award for
Graduate Teaching Assistants. He has also won the University's
award for Best Two-Dimensional art in the 2004 Student Exhibition.
He holds a BFA from the Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand
Rapids, MI, where he concentrated in painting and minored in illustration.
His work has been shown in exhibitions in Michigan and South Carolina,
and also has been shown in London, England, and at the University
of Newcastle, Australia.
Hadley Breckenridge, MFA candidate
at Georgia State University was chosen because of her unique yet
elegant series of nudes photographed in factories. Breckenridge
works as a Graduate Assistant. She earned her BA in Journalism
with an emphasis in Photography from the University of Southern
Mississippi. Her work has been exhibited in numerous shows, including
The ArtWave Association's 16th Annual Juried Art Exhibition
in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, where she received honorable mention.
Breckenridge is represented by the Krause Gallery in Atlanta,
GA.
The combination of expressive, active mark-making with ordinary
objects caused Jennifer Drinkwater, MFA candidate at East Carolina
University, to be selected for inclusion in School's Out III.
In her art, Drinkwater does not seek to use one single style or
technique of painting, but instead synthesizes different materials,
surfaces, and imagery together. In her own words, she wants to
"unite disjointed or opposing forms, colors, and ideas into
a coherent image." The depiction of everyday objects, such
as grandfather clocks, is done in an effort to enliven and abstract
them despite their seeming lack of importance.
Drinkwater was awarded the Hannah Graduate Fellowship. She earned
her BA in Anthropology and Studio Art from Tulane University,
and has also completed post-baccalaureate work at Georgia State
University. Her work has been shown in many group exhibitions
in Louisiana, Mississippi, and North Carolina, and Drinkwater
has been recognized in Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities.
Andrew Hayes, BFA candidate at
the University of South Carolina was selected because of his unconventional
combinations of metal and other objects into narrative pieces.
This body of work seeks to represent the parched, arid landscape
of Arizona and its difficulty in sustaining life. Hayes believes
the landscape is filled with "private narratives found in
discarded tools or clothing." He conveys these personal experiences
and stories in his sculptures, which frequently reflect ideas
of industry, disappointment, and isolation.
Gregory Hopkins, MFA candidate at the Rhode Island School of Design,
BA and MA University of Alabama was selected to participate because
of his creative use of wallpaper to explore the decorative aspects
of painting. Hopkins uses a variety of media - ink on paper, egg
tempura, oil and acrylic paint, and actual wallpaper - in his
efforts to investigate the line drawn between what is considered
art and what is considered purely decoration. His works foster
a discussion on the different uses of art and purposes that it
serves.
Originally from Orange Beach, AL, Hopkins is also an installation
artist.
Lauren Kussro, MFA candidate at
the University of Tennessee was chosen because her works invite
the viewer to explore the forms and beauty of the natural world.
Kussro seeks to create unique works that are both welcoming and
meaningful; in her art she strives to create works that are in
some way interactive and user-friendly. An important theme in
Kussro's work is the portrayal of the spiritual world through
metaphors found in nature - specifically, metaphors that correspond
with relationships between man and nature or man and God.
Born in Mississippi and raised in Indiana, Kussro received her
BFA in Painting and Printmaking from Indiana University's Herron
School of Art. She is currently a Graduate Teaching Associate
at UT, and her work has been exhibited throughout Tennessee and
Indiana.
Erin Murphy
Erin Murphy, MFA candidate at
the University of Tennessee was selected to incorporate one of
her socially themed installations into the gallery for School's
Out III. Murphy explores the controlling relationship of humans
to their environment, and seeks to elevate the environment's status
while narrating "the divorce of humans from each other, our
surroundings, and ourselves." Society's vastly complex relationship
with the environment is investigated alongside the "intense
alienation that permeates every part of our world today."
Murphy is a Graduate Teaching Associate at the University of
Tennessee. She earned her BFA in Ceramics from Syracuse University,
and has taken post-baccalaureate studies at Cortona, Italy, the
Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and the State University
of New York. Her work has been shown in exhibitions in Tennessee,
Georgia, New York, Maryland, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Italy,
and China.
Theresa Sporer, MFA candidate at the University of Georgia was selected because of her use of common, everyday items. Sporer seeks to create enticing and attractive artworks from objects that are domestic in origin. As an artist whose work has feminine associations, she has chosen to use materials such as Tupperware to her advantage as she visually explores the concepts of power and seduction. Sporer uses everyday materials and puts a twist on them "to create work that lures the viewer in with alluring imagery and lush materials."
Sporer earned her BFA at UGA in
Ceramics. Her work has been exhibited in shows across the country,
in Georgia, South Carolina, Washington DC, Rhode Island, Colorado,
and California.
Jason Wech
Jason Wech, MFA candidate at the University of Georgia was chosen because of his beautifully crafted industrial sculptures. Wech attempts to capture qualities of refinement and precision in his works. Influenced by industrial design of the 1930s and 40s, he seeks to create the same kind of functional yet attractive items that were made at that time. One focus of his work is to create pieces with an implied sense of motion. Wech believes that a piece's craftsmanship largely determines its impact, and therefore he carefully constructs his sculptures so they will be visually appealing and will cause positive reactions in the audience.
Wechs' works have been included
in many shows throughout Georgia, including a UGA Center for Undergraduate
Research Symposium that showcased the top artists of the university.
His work has also been shown in Washington, DC, and he participated
in a painting exhibition in Montepulciano, Italy.
Addison Will
The honesty and sincerity of Addison
Will's Baby Series photographs provoked his selection as
a participant in School's Out III. Begun after his wife
became pregnant in 2002, this series reflects his need to express
his anxieties and worries. Feelings of isolation and fears about
child rearing and his changing role in his family are documented
in these photographs. Now that time has passed from the production
of this series, Will says, "they seem to show not only my
daughter's growth but also mine."
As an MFA candidate in Photography at Georgia State University,
Will has held a Teaching Assistantship as well as a Media Center
Assistantship for the School of Art and Design. His works have
been shown throughout Georgia and at the McMaster Gallery in Columbia,
SC. Will earned his Bachelor of Business Administration degree
in Finance from Kennesaw State University.
For further information check our SC Commercial Gallery listings, call the gallery at 803/252-3613 or at (www.cityartonline.com).
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