Art students shared their work, some for the first time, during the first NE Art Club exhibit March 30.
The exhibit, set on the library wall and around it, featured several media and styles, giving the display an eclectic and creative flair. Students submitted their art for five judges to review, who would bestow an award on the artists who displayed the most technical skill and creativity.
The exhibit included photography, pottery, abstract structural art, metal-smithing, textile art, crochet, painting and more.
Art associate professor and NE Art Club adviser Mary Becker helped organize the event. She said determining which art would get an award was a difficult process.
“That’s really hard because art is so personal,” Becker said. “To be honest, we each had our favorites. And so, the officers did a call out on what was their favorites, just because of the way it looks in here, and that’s how honorable mentions got chosen.”
NE Art Club member Emily Proctor won second place for her “Line Without a Hook” crocheted wall art depicting two hands reaching for each other, one reaching out from the depths of a raging ocean, and the other, a skeletal hand reaching down from the sky. Proctor said she was inspired by the song “Line Without a Hook” by Ricky Montgomery and famous paintings “The Great Wave” and Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam.” She said the piece took 50 hours to complete.
“I started crocheting when I was 8 from my grandma, actually,” she said. “I saw her crocheting, and I was wondering what she was doing with the yarn. And so, she initially showed me basic stitches, and I learned from little booklets after that. I liked making purses and stuff and giving them to my friends.”
Trinity Arts Guild member and former TCC student Gregory Arth volunteered to be one of the judges for the exhibit in support of student artists.
“What I find fun is being inspired by younger people,” he said. “That’s a big deal for me, from very young to college-age students, to see what they’re doing and what they’re thinking and how they’re thinking.”
Arth, who has experience in judging art shows, said finding inspiration should be a back-and-forth between professionals and students. Young people should be inspired by seasoned artists and try to learn from them, and older artists should be inspired by younger ones for their ingenuity and passion.
NE student Carla Martinez won an award for two metal bracelets she made. These were the only metal-smith work at the exhibit. Martinez said she enjoys metal smithing because it’s a challenge. She now metal-smiths at an art studio in Dallas.
“A lot of people usually mess with clay or resin, which is a nice form of art, but I like doing the metal work because it’s more hard and tedious to mess with,” she said.
Martinez started her journey in metal smithing in high school as an elective but quickly fell in love with the process.
“It’s just, like, having a saw blade in your hand is so powerful,” she said. “I just get surprised every time we do something, and I’m like ‘Dang, that was just a piece of wire.’”
NE art student Jill Strehl displayed her first abstract structure called “The Illusion of Power.” The base of the structure is a cardboard box with various pieces of tech and items that were thrown away. A silver power button lies on the front of the box.
The structure was originally a sculpture class project but became a symbol of political and artistic expression for Strehl.
“The message is that we have power,” she said. “We’re the ones who have the power. There’s more of us than any entity that could push us around, whether it’s globally or locally, but we need to know that. We need to take back our power and own it.”
To Strehl, asking how long she has been an artist is redundant.
“Probably all my life,” she said. “It’s like asking ‘How long have you been human? How long have you been the way you are?’ And there’s no beginning and no end to it. So you’re making art every time you’re putting something together that you would like other people to see that may invoke some kind of a feeling.”
