Creative Capstone

Truda Silverstein '17 works in her studio as other artists' work is displayed behind her.

From Kenyon News - April 21, 2017

As they prepare for graduation, senior studio art majors are also putting the final touches on the pieces they have created for their capstone experience — the annual senior capstone exhibition in the Gund Gallery, opening Monday, April 24.

A reception from 5 to 8 p.m. kicks off the exhibition, which continues until May 20.

“It’s been really fun to dedicate so much time to doing what I love,” said Ella Jones ’17 of Arlington, Virginia, “but it’s also stressful because I want my work to be the very best that it can be.”

The pieces featured in this year’s exhibition range, thematically, from the tragic “27 Club” (a group of musicians, artists and actors who all died at age 27) and drug addiction and overdose, to the fabrication of memory and the unexpected beauty of tedium.

Jones has created a trio of large-scale drawings (in graphite and pastel) that address the theme of female adolescence, and the transition from childhood to adulthood, through depictions of a girl and her doll in various life stages. “Oftentimes, lines are drawn too dramatically between stages in life, and you sort of have to transition into being an adult faster than you are ready to,” she explained.

Truda Silberstein ’17 of West Tisbury, Massachusetts, chose the medium of video to delve into the dynamics of the mother-daughter relationship. Her installation, she wrote in her artist’s statement, “encapsulates the dueling nature of comfort and claustrophobia that the mother and child bring. ...The mother figure is all-powerful and all creating; but the daughter, too, has the power of transformation.”

Participating in this year’s exhibition are the following seniors:

• Gabriel Avis created an installation that places viewers in a northern Michigan landscape.
• Emily Tillitt Balber explores memory in an installation of yarn, wood and wire.
• Emma Brown pairs traditional Japanese motifs with the European medium of oil on canvas to examine the relationship between identity and history.
• Jessica Ferrer looks at issues of memory and identity through a series of paper weavings.
• Hannah Gilman uses a hybrid of surrealist techniques and Renaissance traditions in a series of oil paintings.
• Evie Gimbel pairs contradictory elements in a series of sculptures featuring plywood and motors.
• Claire HarnEnz looks at farming and the relationship between animals and humans in a series of linoleum prints.
• Emma Harrison created tattoo markings on rawhide to explore concepts of identity and embodiment.
• Ella Jones depicts female adolescence in a series of graphite and pastel drawings.
• Mary Lauletta produced digital illustrations of “bad girls,” which are then painted and hung as portraits.
• Katie Lovins examines aspects of time in an installation featuring sand and thread.
• Morgan MacDonell created a series of sculptures featuring concrete and clay.
• Drew Meeker considers the destruction of nature over time in an animated film.
• Charlotte Mitchell uses photographs and glass jars to depict 27 musicians, artists and actors who have died at age 27.
• Harlee Mollenkopf created delicate paper dresses to examine the feminine experience.
• Anna Kiyota Petek explores the idea of tedium as a source of beauty through wood.
• Aaron Salm looks at issues related to alcoholism in a series of oil paintings.
• Truda Silberstein developed a video installation that explores the mother-daughter relationship.
• Meghan Surges created a video installation with nine black and white CRT monitors.

Also on display in the gallery is “True Confessionals,” a body of work featuring confessional booths in Italy by Professor of Art Marcella Hackbardt, who received the 2017 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award in photography for the series.

The Gund Gallery is open from 1-7 p.m. Tuesday,Wednesday and Friday; 1-10 p.m. Thursday; and 1-5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Admission is free. To learn more, call 740-427-5969.