Starting this week and extending through finals week, the Saint Mary’s Moreau Art Galleries will display a rotating exhibit of student work from the Department of Art’s Video, Advanced Painting and Drawing I classes.
Professor of Art Ian Weaver said in an email, “Rather than have the gallery empty for the final month of the semester, myself and Professor [Julie] Tourtillotte decided to use the space to install the final works from our courses.
“My students also have the required research they have done along with their work; it has been placed on the pedestals next to the work.”
Tourtillotte, the instructor for this display, said in an email that the videos on display from the Department of Film Studies “are highlights from this semester's work in ART 224 Video Art. The students in this course learn about camera use, lighting, audio and editing with Final Cut Pro.
“The video exhibitions in Hammes Gallery will change over this Thursday to the students' final project for this semester — two collaborative video installations titled, 'There/Not There' and 'Nature Studies: Earth, Air, Fire, Water,' she said. "These installations will remain on exhibit through next Thursday, Dec. 17."
Brigid Feasel, a junior with a double concentration in Studio and Art History and an emphasis in painting and writing is one of the art students whose work will appear in the exhibit.
“My pieces are very detail-oriented and I like creating narratives within them, but I also don't like taking things too seriously, so I like to add elements of humor to lighten up the scene," Feasel said in an email. "My pieces in Moreau right now are made to essentially evoke the Romantic Landscape awe and introspective thoughts that are brought about when being exposed to the vastness of nature, but this isn't a person's journey, it's a cow’s journey (where the humor comes in).
“I'm still trying to figure out my own artistic aesthetic at this point, but I know I want to incorporate humor and narratives into my future work. The subjects, I guess, will come from inspiration somewhere or from my own imagination,” Feasel said.
As an art major at Saint Mary’s, Feasel said she knows her professors will help her form her own style and push her artistic limits.
Alexandra Pittel, a junior whose work is also displayed in the gallery, said in an email, “My work reflects my commitment to detail though the technical application as well as conceptual aspects of my research. Later in the semester, I started to think of this set of paintings as a Phenomenological progression with a cast of characters. My hope is that the viewer is able to engage with the pieces as a documentation of my reality, that they can interpret in a way that is meaningful to their own spiritual and physical consciousness.
“The interdisciplinary approach that allows my work to be multi layered is very much fostered by the liberal arts environment here at Saint Mary’s and my wonderful professors.”
