By Edith Mariscal/ reporter
Photos by Luis Hernandez Jr./The Collegian
Five NW students who were given a wall to use as a canvas for art will show off their work until Dec. 16 in the WFAB Lakeview Gallery.
Students submitted proposals for the Fab Four exhibit showing their illustration, list of media and description of concept to enter the exhibition, and selected winners were announced Oct. 31.
NW students Amy Hatley, Humna Raza, Katerina Little and the duo of Theresa Lawson and Jamie Damon were each given an entire wall to create a large-scale, site-specific work in the gallery.
Damon and Lawson’s collaborative work, Inhale-Exhale, features a two-color painting of a girl wearing a gas mask. The imagery and artistic intent symbolizes the violence of war and the destruction of the environment.
“I really like being able to scale up the artwork and being able to talk to everybody else doing it and seeing what they can do and provide input,” Damon said.
Hatley’s piece, If Chairs Be Wires, uses found and ready-made objects. She deconstructed a table and chairs to create a three-dimensional composition of formal patterns and colors.
“Most of my pieces are roadside rescues,” she said. “There is beauty in everything we discard every day. I loved the challenge of coming up with a proposal and doing the work.”
Little’s piece, The Flock, is comprised of scores of hand-folded, multi-colored origami cranes suspended from the ceiling at varying distances from the gallery walls. She intended to create a relaxing, meditative moment that encourages viewers to take a break from the overwhelming hustle and bustle of daily routines.
“It’s my first piece in a gallery, so I loved people stopping and asking if I had made them myself,” she said. “I’m very appreciative of the help from my dad and my friends, Winnie and Kaitlin, loved the feeling of them being there for me if I needed anything.”
Raza’s piece, What’s Your Next Move?, features humanoid pieces in a battle and represents the critical decisions that must be made during a crisis.
“It’s amazing to show what TCC students can do,” she said. “I loved doing something of this scale and the feeling of my friends and people encouraging me and letting me know that I could do this.”
The students agreed being selected by a jury made their participation more special.
“The fact that we were chosen among many makes us feel honored,” Hatley said.
The five also learned the importance of working with a budget.
“It gives them real-world experience,” NW art associate professor John Hartley said. “They have to write a proposal, work with a budget, have time management, do public speaking. It teaches them to deal with rejection and acceptance. It’s all part of the learning process.”
The artists will talk about their pieces at a reception 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Dec. 8 in the gallery.
