Tonight! Opening Reception for Three Art Exhibits at Edison State College
Nov 30, 2010
With subjects ranging from gunpowder to a grandmother’s bellybutton, Art rules Edison State College Lee Campus tonight as Professor Dana Roes and the Art Club celebrate three exciting exhibits with an Opening Party at The Richard H. Rush Library.
The Media and public are invited to the Opening Reception on Tuesday, November 30th at 6:00pm in the Richard H. Rush Library at Edison State College, 8099 College Parkway, Ft Myers. The upstairs installations run through December 10th; the advanced student exhibition ends December 5th.
Each floor of the Rush Library will house a different exhibit: SYNC/SINK is a juried show open to all students at Edison State campuses. Work from a variety of mediums will be exhibited the main floor of the library. The third floor study rooms feature works from Lee Campus Drawing II students. Couillard | Krupp | Malecot, a special Fall 2010 Portfolio review for three advanced Lee Campus students will exhibit in the Rush Gallery on the first floor. Student exhibits on all floors will be available for view during the encompassing opening reception.
The Couillard/Krupp/Malecot exhibition represents the culmination of a semester of work by three advanced art students. Two of these works are the result of performance art pieces created earlier in the semester.
Erin Krupp’s piece was inspired by the death of a close friend who committed suicide after enduring months of bullying. She covered a wood board in reflective material, shrouded it in a sheet and randomly scattered gunpowder on top. Participants were given small bits of fabric cut from the sheet to light on fire and throw down to ignite the gunpowder. What remains is a charred indictment of intolerance. The image burned into the materials is abstract, forcing the viewer to become an active agent in the interpretive process.
Claire Malecot’s piece was created during Art Walk in downtown Ft. Myers as she stood in a display window obsessively cutting paper in large circles while actively ignoring those who were watching her. The actions of a young woman in a space traditionally reserved for lifeless mannequins challenge the viewer to reflect on our roles in a consumer culture.
Genie Couillard offers us a series of abstracted photographs of her hair called Molded Habit. Women’s hair has long been a symbol of sexual power but these extreme close-ups of hair-- snaking down walls and clinging to shower curtains that look remarkably like flesh, cause us to reconsider the metaphor. Disembodied and contrasted against a variety of textures, the viewer can delight in the sheer elemental nature of hair or invent an endless variety of narratives inspired by our own experiences to explain each image.
“The range of work in this show testifies to the development of each artist who has moved far beyond the simplistic understanding of art as an object of beauty,” explained Dr. Wendy Chase, Humanities Professor at Edison State College. “This is not art that is validated by its price tag but art that adds value to the human experience by pushing us to rethink our culture and become active participants in the creative and interpretive process.”
For information about Art programs or the current exhibitions, please contact Professor Dana Roes at dkern1@edison.edu.
Last Updated: November 30, 2010
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