By JW McNay/managing editor
NW faculty talent is on display with faculty-created works showcased during regular campus hours until Oct. 5 in the Lakeview Gallery (WFAB 1135).
The works include various media such as paintings, ceramics, drawings, sculptures and videos, NW art associate professor Christian deLeon said, adding the artwork is very “now” and “of this time.”
“We live in a very uncertain world, and a lot of the artwork that is presented reflects that uncertainty [and] is a comment on that uncertainty,” he said.
One “peculiar” piece is NW adjunct art instructor Sam Swihart’s “Sanctuary,” deLeon said. The painting is a grayscale scene of dolls and mannequins with what could be interpreted as human legs on the floor, he said.
“You’re kind of thrown up in the air with this quandary of ‘What is real?’ and ‘What is alive?’” he said. “Or is there even a real person? Am I reading too much into it?”
NW adjunct art instructor Elizabeth Hurtado’s “Rammed Earth Test Cylinder” is another piece on display. She said her interest and study of earthen architecture led to incorporating earth into her artwork.
“Part of the reason I love earth is not only can you build with it, but it’s just so beautiful,” Hurtado said. “There’s something about the texture and the color and the feeling that it evokes that I find really lovely.”
The faculty works range from more traditional to less traditional and even “strange,” Hurtado said. The exhibit is also a chance for students to see how their art instructors explore concepts, she said.
“I think it’s really nice for students to see that their professors actually have ideas,” she said. “They’re not just teachers. They’re artists.”
