Senior BFA Exhibit: April 1-May 1, 2010

In the space of time between the faculty exhibit and the BFA exhibit, I had a chance to visit Europe for ten days. Of course, art was the highlight of the trip (as was visiting the GSA and ECA campuses), but I am always curious about how professional exhibit designers use the space in their galleries. My eyes were filled with a wealth of exhibiting inventiveness, but I was particularly inspired by the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow, Scotland. When I attended the museum, most of it was shut down for an exhibit change but I was allowed access to the second floor exhibit. I remember a particular piece that was installed in the hallway. The art-objects were actually inside an adjacent room, and I could only see the installation by looking through windows with shutters that opened and closed. There was no glass in the window which tempted me into leaning into the space. Even thought the museum was crowded with people, the windows and shutters made me feel like I was having an intimate aesthetic experience. The act of tucking art away, making the patron really look for art, that stayed with me as I went back to my own gallery space. I wanted the BFA exhibit to be maze-like in nature, with fake walls installed in order for almost every student to have three walls that belonged entirely to them. The idea is that the patron's body made the fourth wall, and the act of looking at that particular art belonged solely to one patron at a time.

Parowan Gap: Faculty Exhibit February 4- March 13, 2010

This exhibit taught me about how to work with artists so that our respective functions in the art gallery can work symbiotically. The particular challenge of this exhibit was to combine the studio works of 15 art-faculty members who have a particular sense of how they want their work exhibited. Our faculty is exceptionally talented in drawing, painting, ceramics, and photography; because of the sophistication of their work I wanted to meet with every working faculty member and discuss how they envisioned their work to be displayed. I also learned the essential art of deadlines.

The exhibit was a two-room exhibit; one hung with lots of lighting and the other room kept as dark as possible. The need for the extra lighting in the former room was to highlight the floor installation piece completed by Susan Harris. I had the opportunity to assist in the installations of the artwork, which was a new experience for me as usually the artist would simply drop off the work to me and hope for the best. I appreciated how particular our faculty was about how their work would be installed. That kind of care for their art convinced me that these artists have thought their craft through to the very end.

A Break From Designing Exhibits: Me Behind the Camera

After the Cyanotypes exhibit, Jeremias Paul asked me to serve as a photography assistant for his personal work. In all of my art history classes, I never learned so much about the sophisticated and elegant art of photography as I had in the weeks as his assistant. Jeremias' work is astounding as is, I was happy to be a part of it.

History of Photography Cyanotypes Exhibit

This was the most curious exhibit for me to design. Jeremias Paul, a photography professor, was given the opportunity to teach the "History of Photography" class and during one of his many lectures, we discussed cyanotypes and their influence on the evolution on photography. As a class experiment, we were given the opportunity to make cyanotypes ourselves and I offered to take the cyanotypes and make an exhibit. With the help of the "Museum and Gallery Practices" class we mounted the cyanotypes with mat and hand made the labels indicating the title and artist using the cyanotype medium. It was exhibited in the hallway of the Performing Arts building and remained there for six weeks. Using an actual medium to interpret an exhibit was one of the more risky moves I made in designing exhibits, but found the outcome satisfying. It was the first time I had actually used an artful medium to display art and it felt unusual to interpret an exhibit so boldly. The majority of our class were not art majors and had never attempted an artful project, so Jeremias decided to have a wine and cheese opening for the exhibit, perhaps the only one we would ever have exhibiting work we made on our own.

Parowan Gap "God's Own House" January 7-January 30, 2010

This exhibit was my senior thesis. This exhibit featured art inspired by the geological phenomenon of the Parowan Gap which is a canyon and passage through the Red Hills west of Parowan Valley where the sun sets perfectly in the juncture of the canyon at both the summer and winter solstice.

The challenge of this exhibit was to feature both poetry and art in the same space. I wanted each experience, the act of reading and the act of looking, to be separate. Our campus gallery is divided into two rooms and I chose to interpret the poetry through lighting. I printed the poetry on vellum, then strung up a series of back-lighting and hung the poems roughly 18 inches from the wall. When the lights were dimly lit, it produced the effect that the poems were emanating light; almost as if they were their own petroglyphs on a fire-lit cave wall.

This exhibit was given entirely to me including budget, time frame, design, lighting and reception. It was an incredible experience to produce a show from its genesis to its opening. I became more sensitive to the money I was spending, the placement of the art for maximum impact, highlighting the poetry without detracting from the art. Lighting, for me, will always be key in expressing the true impact of art. I approach an exhibit always with the mind of keeping the light as minimal as possible. As a child, and even in my adult years, low lighting is how I best concentrate while reading. I take that principle with me to the study of art in a gallery space.

Jim Jones: Recent Paintings October 15-December 12, 2009

The work of Jim Jones is the cornerstone of our collections at SUU. Jim Jones has lived in Southern Utah for nearly all of his life and has dedicated himself to the southwestern landscape. After discovering that SUU had made plans to erect a Museum, Jim (fondly called Jimmie) promised one landscape to help raise funds for the museum. To thank him for the gesture, we proposed an exhibit to feature his most recent work. By this time, he was over 70 years old and was seriously thinking of retiring from painting. After the Braithwaite suggested the exhibit to Jimmie, he decided to give not one... but fourteen new landscapes as well as all of his possessions, including his home, upon his death. In a letter promising the completion of the art he indicated that these paintings would be his "life's thesis." The fourteen pieces were completed on time, however, Jimmie's illness prevented him from ever seeing them exhibited for himself. Three months later, on the final week of the exhibit Jimmie passed away.

The exhibit was hung in what we refer to as "heroic style" meaning 8 inches above the traditional 60 inch eye mark causing most patrons to crane their neck upwards. The size of Jimmie's work ranged from 36 x 48 inches to 40 x 192 inches and hanging them in heroic style increased the grandeur of these large paintings. Lighting was kept as low as possible; both rooms were exceptionally dark with the hung pieces of art as the exception. There was no way that any patron could concentrate on anything else.

Jim Jones: Recent Paintings October 15-December 12, 2009

I had the opportunity to serve as a gallery instructor for the Braithwaite During the Jim Jones exhibit. Thousands of elementary school students toured our exhibit and were given an opportunity to participate in an activity involving texture. They were instructed on the elements and principles of design including proximity, line, and color.