Untitled Potential

JMU MFA Exhibition Jan 12 – Jan 24 2015

Artworks Gallery James Madison University

Harrisonburg, Virginia

Ben  Wailes  #1        Abstract  #11811    #2    Abstract  #118112    #3    Abstract  #118113  

We talk about how artist statements are living documents that are always changing. Well five days before my first ever-graduate review, I totally trashed mine. I really did not want to, but most were telling me, the work I completed, did not match the statement. So here I am writing my statement again. After some thought, I think the best decision is to discuss the work, I completed this semester, in this artist statement. Simple shapes have always been the major focus of my work. The portfolio that I applied to graduate school was a mix of simple colorful organic shapes that were painted flat .One of my goals for the work, this semester was to work the surface more, and create a surface that was somewhere between expressive and flat. I created a great deal of organic shapes and also monochromatic paintings, that met this criteria. Process is very important to my work. All of my work starts with quick thumb nail sketches. These are very quick drawings, done on cheap copy paper. I usually try and create at least 20 of these, before I begin a painting. After completing these drawings, I take a look at them one last time, and then put the sketches out of sight, and then I start with the blank canvas. I usually put down a few colors and see how the painting is going. I look for movements and composition ideas. I am always destroying the painting that I have, by painting over it, looking to get the painting that is not yet known, that can result in a better or worse work, depending on the decisions that I make. This process can take many layers, and sometimes up to six months to complete. I usually work on multiple paintings at a time. Sometimes I will look at a painting for days and other paintings come very quickly. It is no way to tell which ones are going to work, and which ones will not. Some of the paintings that start out the worse, end up being the strongest work. The paintings almost have a life of their own, and I let them develop organically. The grid paintings were the last paintings that I completed this semester. Most of these were completed, over the week, we had off, for Thanksgiving break. In my critical theory class, we had to do a paper, on a subject that was not a major part of our work. Well this paper inspired me to do a grid series. This series made me think of what an iconic symbol the rectangle is, in our culture. Computer screens, televisions, most of the great paintings in the world, and so many things in the world we live in, are in the shape of a rectangle. Other artists are also a big inspiration behind my work. I try and study contemporary artists as well as historical artists. A major theme to my work is to use everyday visual things in my life. Looking at the world I live in is very important, to what I am doing in my work.

Ellen Reid���#4 Untitled���

Joliza Terry���#7 Joliza���#8 David���

Tara Ott!#5 Video- "days of painting”!

projected on painted backdrop!

#6 Photos: a. Day one b. Day two

c. Day three d. Day five

e. Day eight f. Day nine

ALL DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHS

Mengjiao Wang #9 breathe and protection

ceramics

Statement:

Art is like a person who I can always talk to. Instead of using words, art is transferred by-passes words and become an aesthetic. As an international student, I am experiencing both Chinese and American culture. That is how I feel different—a Chinese artist who lives in the US and continues to pursue art here. I want to use the different experiences to apply to my work. Clay is basic material we have in nature; it even provides nutrition for many creatures. Nature is art that the world gifts to human beings. However, are we protecting our nature? The answer is not really. Look at the environment around us; pollution is everywhere. Go back to where I am from, Beijing, air pollution in Beijing is the topic that we discuss every day. Dust haze (pollution haze) and PM 2.5 (PM 2.5 refers to fine particles. Particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter are called "fine" particles) are the most important things that Beijing citizens will pay attention to every single day. “Forbidden City” is another name for Beijing, is supposed to be safe and secure, but the air pollution is like the enemy trying to break the safety in Beijing. Rather than writing a topic linked to air pollution, I would like to focus on ceramics as the media to tell the story. Air pollution causes many diseases and it will influence people who live in Beijing, especially our next generation. Ceramics is fragile; human health is fragile as well. We desire to see the blue sky and green plants in Beijing. I want to tell more people what is happening in Beijing using my work and I want people who have never experienced air pollution to know how it feels for those in Beijing. I am far away from my roots, but as a leaf of the tree, I yearn my best wishes to my motherhood place. I love to hold clay in my hands, the way it feels resembles a healing method during difficult times to reconnect with my mind, body, and soul. I hope that air pollution can be healed by human beings. We are part of the nature and have the responsibility to take care of our world.

Nathaniel St. Amour

#10 Just Another Face II 18x24”

#11 Oil, enamel and photo transfer on canvas

#12 Just Another Face III 18x24"

Oil, enamel and photo transfer on canvas

#13 Just Another Face IV 24x36"

Oil, enamel and photo transfer on canvas

#14 A Digital Painting I 12x7"

Paint on canvas #15 A Digital Painting II

20x10" Paint on canvas

Patricia  Drummond      #16    A  Mul1plicity  of  Acts  Date:  2014  (Installa1on  2015)  Media:  Book  Arts  

         

   

#17  Un1tled  Media:  Polaroid  LiG  

Year:  2015  

I grew up in an extraordinary, yet untraditional, family. From this I find a strong pull towards understanding how the mind works and how memory has a physical and emotional impact on our personal and communal lives; specifically the role of the vernacular photograph and its oddities, curiosities, introspections and realities. Photography has become the very essence of contemporary vernacular archiving. Though it started as an artistic and scientific endeavor that has lived in both worlds since its conception, and spread to many other disciplines, photography has come to exist as, and remain, the medium of choice for those who want to record. Our own vernacular archive of photographs is a literal and figurative reflection of society. It becomes our own time machine into the past and present, bearing witness to the moments shared. It reflects our mutual story, in its own time; while living multiple lives, as each story and reading we give it breathes new life into the obvious yet unattainable story of the photograph’s inception. It is this synergy between the act of vernacular photography, the physical element produced (and or the lack there of) and the human interaction in all the stages of the photograph’s existence that I explore. My work is a journey to find the links between the here and the now and the then and the there. It is my own active response to the universal act of vernacular archiving in photography and life. It is not nostalgia that drives me to make these images, but a respect for what was once important, and an understanding that everything is temporary and nothing is unimportant. I apply process and repetition to go beyond the surface of the everyday and to expand upon my own relationship with the work. The images reflect my own story and those stories I choose to create and collect, an archive of self and created myth. Recognizable imagery may be found within the photographs, lending meaning to the story unfolding; while hidden information and the absurdity of repetition, obscure and inhibit while inciting questions and insight.

JON HENRY # 18 (IN)SECURITY

2015 Water  Collected  from  the  Shenandoah  River  in  Front  Royal,  Va.  

 Front  Royal  is  home  to  the  Avtex  Fibers  Superfund  Site.  The  site  was  Virginia’s  

largest  Superfund  location.  Avtex  created  a  variety  of  materials  with  many  contracts  for  the  US  military.  The  plant  was  one  of  the  largest  single  employers  in  

the  area.    

For  more  than  45  years,  the  440-­‐acre  Avtex  Fibers  plant  manufactured  rayon,  polyester,  and  polypropylene  fibers  for  commercial,  defense,  and  space  

industries.  It  employed  over  2,500  people  in  the  area.  It  operated  from  1940  until  1989,  when  Avtex  closed  the  plant  and  declared  bankruptcy.  In  June  1986,  the  site  

was  listed  on  the  Superfund  program’s  National  Priorities  List.    

During  the  plants  operation,  many  residents  complained  about  the  smell  of  sulfur,  rotten  eggs,  and  smoke.  

 This  former  rayon  manufacturing  facility  is  being  recovered  to  provide  a  175-­‐acre  

eco-­‐friendly  office  park,  30  acres  of  soccer  fields,  and  240  acres  of  conservancy  park  along  the  Shenandoah  River.  

 Residents  are  still  advised  to  only  eat  2  fish  from  the  river  a  month  

#19 A.F.A.R 2014---

 Advancing  Frontiers  of  Artist  Residencies  is  an  subsidiary  project  of  the  Old  Furnace  Artist  Residency.  Participants  are  invited  to  reside  within  the  space  for  a  minimum  of  5  mins.  They  can  complete  a  variety  of  tasks/projects/meditations/digestions/etc.    

After  5  mins  of  engagement,  they  are  awarded  a  diploma.    

You  are  encouraged  to  design  and  leave  behind  a  postcard.      

Jennifer Trembly

#20 Surface/Tension 34

#21 Surface/Tension 29

#22 Depression Diaries