Ohio University's School of Art and Design faculty brought their artistic abilities and passion for art to the Kennedy Museum of Art in September. Located at 100 Ridges Circle, the new “Art & Process” exhibit celebrates faculty artwork and educates locals.
“Art & Process” highlights the creative processes taught in the School of Art and Design. The exhibit displays various art forms and mediums. It looks into the artistic mind of the school’s educators, displaying their own artistic practices.
Melissa Haviland, a printmaking professor, is a screen printer and installation artist. Her piece, “Poppy Expanse," part of her Flourish series, examines 15 historic cash crops. The piece focuses on patchwork and historical design. It also emphasizes pattern and layered imagery.
When asked about her creative process, Haviland said she was inspired by pattern design.
“I’m very interested in pushing pattern design,” she said. “These are some of the first patterns I had working with many layers. If you get up really close, you can see they are built with lots of imagery. For me, it was a design and archive project.”
Haviland said she worked with the National Library in Copenhagen, Denmark, and the Lloyd Library and Museum in Cincinnati to research historic cash crops, all of which greatly influenced Poppy Expanse.
Similar to Haviland, many faculty members in the school shared pieces that took several years and a lot of dedication to complete. The exhibit displayed a variety of art forms, from installation work to digital pieces. Among these technological pieces was “Destroy Again! Syria," featuring projection and sound.
“Destroy Again! Syria," by Basil Masri Zada, represents Syria’s ongoing struggle with terrorism and dictatorship. Zada is an assistant professor of digital art and technology for the School of Art. Syria is his home country, and Zada said his creation process involved a fifteen-year exploration of Syria’s complex political landscape.
In his piece, Zada developed a unique artificial intelligence sequencing technique to trace his own frame. By doing this, he formulated an authentic piece to symbolize the country’s transitions between different forms of dictatorship. The artwork utilizes flags and a black house to symbolize terrorism and barbed wire to showcase the continuous challenges faced by Syria.
“Just be aware that there’s other parts of the world that have conflict, and it’s not just what you see on the news,” Zada said. “It is not always good or evil, there is always a spectrum of things, and in the end, people are out in the middle and have to live with that.”
Through “Destroy Again! Syria," Zada said he wants to demonstrate a meaningful message connected to the struggles his home country is facing.
Members of the museum’s board, Friends of the Kennedy, encourage not only Athens locals to visit the exhibit, but OU students as well.
“Come up, and take your time,” said Jen Cantu, secretary on the museum board. “If you have questions, people will answer them for you … it takes more than one look at something. You can come in and experience galleries at one point in time and then come back again, and you’ll see something different.”
