Event II: Visual Arts Faculty Exhibition

Santa Fe College's gallery opening included artwork from the professors of the art department, showing off their unique skills and talents. Some admirable, some astonishing, and some intriguing.

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For my second event of the semester I attended the grand opening of the faculty art exhibit being held at the Santa Fe Gallery on November 30th. It was an exhibition that was dedicated towards promoting the artwork and skills of the very professors of this institution. From photography to visual art to drawings to paintings and sculptures, this exhibition contained all kinds of art that is both beautiful and surprising. It was weird and amazing to see the work of a professor. For example, my Drawing II professor, Matthew Newell, constantly embeds his methods into our minds; his voice resides next to my own in my head and every time I walk into his studio I recite what he tells us every class on how to perform at peak level. So, to see his ideologies and methods be put to work and presented in a gallery for everyone to see is very flabbergasting and astonishing but still kind of weird.

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This hyper-realistic oil and graphite on wooden panel painting is done by artist Stacey Breheny. This photograph does not do it any justice! In person, it is amazing and incredible how realistic the mini landscapes appear to be. One can easily mistake one of these panels for an actual photograph of some rural part in the US or elsewhere; however, it is not, rather the contrary. The way Breheny mimics real life colors and hues is AMAZING because she does it in a way that seem perfect in nature and blends easily with realism. What's particularly beautiful about these extremely realistic paintings is the different ways she uses green. She changes tone and adds or subtracts (when needed) from the value of the green, making it either contrast heavily or blend in perfectly with its surroundings. To create a serene tone with the greens and light blues of the sky is admirable. Additionally, the way the 20 little panels are set up, in a rectangular shape, creates movement and flow to the paintings and forces eye movement and never allows for the eyes to stop in one spot because of everything that is goin on and what is centered around the beauty of nature. Truly beautiful and astounding work done by Breheny.

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Another work of art is done by Dan (last name I can't seem to remember). This artist had two different art pieces displayed side-by-side: the self-portraits to the right and a mathematically achieved landscape of a group of people doing yoga to the far right of the self-portraits (a piece of that landscape can actually be seen in the picture to the right). This artist also has a charcoal self-portrait but it's hidden away in my Drawing II studio room. A pity that such beauty is locked away in a room instead of shown off at a gallery for everyone and anyone to be inspired by the masterpiece.

The artwork to the right is your traditional oil on canvas. It is interesting to see the technique used by Dan. How it appears as if he dabbed blots of paint on the canvas or created circular motions throughout instead of "normal" side-to-side or up-n-down strokes painters use. This technique adds texture instead of a one-dimensional flat surface. The texture adds to the depth perception of the background. Additionally, the body proportions are accurate, or so it appears. The first portrait (the one above) equips light colors and a light source that creates a light and somber tone. Contrastingly, the second portrait (the one below) uses chiaroscuro that creates a more mysterious and dark tone. Both juxtapose a darkness and lightness aspect towards painting a portrait. The contrast really compliments the texture and technique of the blotted patterns of oil spread across the canvas.

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Arguably the best piece in the entire gallery, my Drawing II professor's charcoal on paper drawings. The class I take with him, Matthew Newell, is about drawing the human body with charcoal as a drawing tool. To see the skills he has put in display is AMAZING. It's weird and funny to judge his work and critic it with the same vocabulary, ideology, and techniques that he taught my class. It is cool to see marks, tone, value, line quality, and proportions and how my professor, the artist of this piece, creates it. I wonder how long it took him to create each piece. I wonder how many times he disliked the work-in-progress he had on paper. I wonder what he thinks of his own work as its displayed at the gallery.

This is my favorite piece because of the dark tone it has. The black and white aspect and the very seriousness it conveys is great! I've always enjoyed artwork that is in black and white or appears to be messy or equips chiaroscuro which this piece does equip A LOT. Also, the line quality varies from drawing to drawing. One drawing is very transparent while the other drawing has hard edges on one side of the body and the other side is almost nonexistent. The line quality gives it personality and makes it human instead of a two-dimensional drawing. There is depth in these charcoal drawings. The proportions are what truly drive the beauty and attractiveness of the drawings. Without proper proportions, the drawings would have major flaws that are evident to the naked eye and would make the drawings disturbing. The way he balances the page is also taken into consideration. Notice how the drawings equally equip negative and positive space to create an illusion of size and grandeur. He does not ignore the negative space and really works with it instead of against it. Truly a work of art done by Professor Newell.