The 2006 School of Art Faculty Exhibition at the Kennedy Museum of Art spans an eclectic range of disciplines from sculpture to documentary video and offers faculty members the opportunity to demonstrate their expertise in the subjects they teach.
It's a really diverse faculty
said Carolyn Cardenas, professor of painting and assistant director of the graduate program for Ohio University's School of Art. That's what makes it so strong.
Her painting, West of Eden conveys the idea that even in the most beautiful places, unsettling realities mar the surface.
It was designed to be like little peepholes into the individual agendas of the people in the painting, Cardenas said, adding, beneath the fa+ some ugly activities are occurring.
Cardenas began work on Eden in 1990, but she said she plans to add components until her death.
There are lots of things that aren't painted yet
Cardenas said.
Aside from the more conventional aspects of art, the exhibit includes eccentric examples of sculpture like The Prince's Lair
created by Duane McDiarmid, associate professor of sculpture.
The sculpture is made up of three mattresses, strewn with brightly colored fabrics that form two lean-tos underneath. Coleman lanterns illuminate the spaces and reveal a strange assortment of objects including a plate of half-eaten Oreos and a magnifying glass.
One of the first things to be seen, however, is a vending machine that is part of the Collaborative Educational Project
presented by Stacy Asher, assistant professor of graphic design, and Alison Colman, assistant professor of art education.
The project was a five-month unit of study for gifted and talented fifth-graders at Amesville Elementary School, Amesville, designed to teach the insidiousness of advertising
Colman said.
Colman and Asher asked students to create their own marketing and advertising project, and they chose the idea of Be Unique!
she said.
Students designed the Be Unique! slogan out of neon-colored rectangles, and they advertised the products - bookmarks and other small items - around their school, she said.
For the grand finale, the students sold their Be Unique! products in a vending machine at their school, with proceeds benefiting charity, Colman said.
The Be Unique! vending machine is displayed in the exhibit, along with a flash presentation that documents the process and background of the project.
The exhibition is the perfect opportunity for faculty to show their students that they really care and know what they are talking about, Cardenas said.
The Kennedy Museum of Art is proud to present this exhibition, said Kelee Riesbeck, public relations and media coordinator at the museum.
When they do have the time to work on their own projects
it's very rewarding for them
she said.
The exhibition will be at the museum, Lin Hall at The Ridges, until March 12, during regular gallery hours: noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday; noon to 8 p.m. Thursday; and 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
