Well, it seems that this project is at its official end. Since this blog was created for my Online Journalism class and we’re at the end of the semester, I guess this is goodbye. But only a temporary goodbye. I will do my best to keep up with ruartistic–after the holiday season of course. Christmas bells are jinglin’ and this full-time student needs a break from the marathon that is beat blogging. I’ll be sipping on eggnog, watching Muppet’s Christmas Carol repeatedly, and trying to slowly recover from the many disappointments journalism entails.
As a whole, it’s been a great learning experience. That being said, I don’t ever want to be a journalist. I never really planned on it, but I always considered myself open to anything. Journalism, however, is certainly not for me. I have a new-found respect for the craft and the people who dedicate their lives to it. Being ignored, sometimes dealing with rude people, and often having to resort to plans C, D, and E are very tiring and rough on the ego. That’s not to say there aren’t any pros to the job. When the pieces come together it’s an awesome feeling.
All in all, it’s been a great ride. I got to talk to some interesting people, learn about art, and hopefully inspire some readers. I even built an audience along the way, which is all a blogger can really ask for. So, Goodbye…for now.
It’s freezing out. I’m coughing up a lung and I wonder if this is what consumption feels like. Oh, and I’m lost.
You would think with three-and-a-half years at Rowan under my belt I would be able to locate the entrance to the old bookstore—nope. I try to open the door but it won’t budge. I peer inside and all I see is empty space and rubble. “Well,” I think to myself, “they must be going for minimalism.”
After a lap around the parking lot I finally see it—a small television set on a desk in front of a chair in the middle of some grass. And a big sign with T.H.A.W. draped over it. I now feel cold and exceptionally stupid. But I successfully located the mystery-gallery everyone seems to be talking about. I’m certainly glad I found it.
The lower portion of Winan Hall, Rowan’s old bookstore, looks nothing like the rest of the dusty, abandoned building; it’s spotless, painted a glossy white, and full of original artwork. The abandoned building is now home to the renegade art gallery, T.H.A.W.
“We did all the work ourselves,” said senior fine arts major, Heather Fessmire. “We sanded the walls, painted, cleaned furniture and turned the building into an art gallery. It was a real challenge, but it was definitely worth it”
At T.H.A.W., the artwork is the exhibit
Nine fine arts students from Professor Tom Bendtsen’s advanced sculpture class were given a seemingly simple assignment: create an original exhibit. But there was a catch—the class couldn’t use an existing gallery; they had to create one.
“We originally wanted to use this old, abandoned house but Rowan thought it was too much of an insurance risk, so they let us use the old book store,” said senior fine art major, Martel Thompkins. “We all got our own space and were free to do whatever we wanted.”
With complete creative freedom, the students were able to create extremely innovative, avante-garde work. The gallery consists of interactive sculptures, video, performance art, and a live tattoo demonstration on a pig’s head. Sadly, I missed the tattoo demonstration by a day. According to junior fine art major and professional tattoo artist, Ashley Ammann, attaining a pig’s head is no easy task.
Ashley Ammann tattooing a lucky pig
“I was surprised that people weren’t that grossed out by what I was doing,” said Amman. “They were actually really into it. It’s fun to incorporate what I do into a performance. I get a kick out of it.”
The idea of bridging the gap between traditional art and more contemporary methods can be found throughout T.H.A.W. Senior Fine Arts Major Anthony Algieri combined his backgrounds in metalworks and sculpture to create a robot made of recyclable material he controls with a pedal. There is no name tag next to his piece, just a hand-written note pondering the nature of consciousness.
Similarly, heather Fessmire’s piece, “Reconceive” mixes sculpture with a video installation shot in black light. In the piece, a nude woman slowly becomes visible as she rubs white paint and detergent on herself, then recedes from visibility as she wipes it off.
The installation ran from December 6-8, so, sadly, you missed your chance to experience it. And I truly mean ‘experience.’ The nine artists created something completely immersive and surreal with T.H.A.W. I’m extremely glad I had the chance to witness it.
For those of you who did not attend T.H.A.W., check out this video:
Art Major, graphic designer and all-around creative dude, Josh Carter, was born in Arvada Colorado. He moved to South Jersey at the ripe age of one. When he’s not in class, with his girlfriend, or “broing out,” The David Lynch-influenced Josh sends free art to people through his website. Josh was kind enough to answer a few questions for me. Enjoy!
"The best part about a pencil that's too sharp to put in your pocket is that you get to hold it."-Josh Carter
How would you describe your artistic philosophy?
I would describe my artistic philosophy as a lot of different philosophies combined into one. I think you can find art anywhere.
Why did you initially get into art?
I initially got into art because it was something I loved to do and it didn’t hurt like work did.
Which art courses did you enjoy the most?
I really enjoyed taking the motion courses at Rowan. I had motion one which is animation based, motion two which concentrates on video and an independent study in motion where I concentrated on animation and video. Here’s my main project from that independent study.
What does Rowan’s membership to PAFA mean for art students?
The PAFA membership is great i wish i had more time to go hang out at the museum.
What are your thoughts on the upcoming merger of the Fine and performing arts program into the Communications Department?
At first I wasn’t for it but now I don’t mind because it’s not going to change anything really.
If you could give an aspiring artist one bit of advice what would it be?
I do lots of different art. video and animation are one of my main out lets and then there’s the design side of my art life so lately on the design side I’ve been heavily influenced by Aaron Draplin. He’s a very down to earth designer who started out as a snowboard art designer and one of his most recent jobs was designing the logo for the stimulus package.
His philosophy: if you’re making art that you love, then its good art.
There is a reason Rowan’s Art department will merge into the School of Communications next year. Both disciplines require a high level of creativity. Public Relations/Journalism double-Major, Darrah Foster pursues art mainly as a hobby. When she isn’t perfecting her writing and preparing presentations for her senior Case Studies class, carrying out her many responsibilities as President of Rowan’s Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), or working at her internship, Darrah enjoys drawing, painting, and singing. She was kind enough to take some time out of her busy day to answer some questions and send me some of her work. Enjoy!
16 X 20 acrylic
1.What go you into art?
I started drawing when I was younger (around 7). I used to draw up my own magazines and pictures for my mom and dad. When I got to middle school I began to use art as an outlet. One of my watercolor paints was sold at an art show for $35. I was one happy teenager!
24 X 36 acrylic
2.What is your favorite stlye?
I love to do abstact art in acryllic. Acryllic is my favorite medium because it is very forgiving. Another style is freehand drawing then painting it on a canvas in acryllic.
Stencil
3.What are some of youre inspirations?
The people in my life are ususally my inspirations. The big painting I am working on right now is inspired by my brother. He wanted something that represented him and his wife and son. So I chose our last name “Foster” and was inspired by their livingroom. Another inspiration is my emotions. I found that my emotions never fail me when I am doing something artistic. I did the Dave and Darrah painting thinking of the greatest love, Dave and I. The whole time I just thought of us as an inspiration. For “my brothers eyes” sketching and the “door to freedom” sketching, I pulled from my emotions of missing him when he went away to the ARMY.
18 x 24 graphite powder sketching
4.Do you plan on pursuing a career in art or maybe the creative?
Well, as you know, I am a PR and Journalism major. I love to design and layout things. I wouldn’t mind working on an internal or external publications for a company. I will always use my creativity, whether I get paid or not. It is something that is in my blood. I come from a very artisticly expressive family. We write, dance, sing and paint.
16 X 12 Charcoal
5.What advice would you give to people who aren’t art majors but still want to pursue it as a hobby?
Follow your heart, first and foremost. Your heart will always want you to perform artisticly. Art is a form of expression, and you should use that as an outlet.
You don’t have to be an Art major to create or appreciate art in its many forms. Bob Sheridan, currently a Civil and Environmental Engineering major at Rowan University, seems like an unlikely candidate for “budding graffiti artist.” Calculus Four and Differential Equations don’t exactly translate to street art, but that doesn’t stop bob from pursuing his newfound passion for, as he says, “doodling.” Check out this video for more on Bob:
Today i’m going to do something different. Instead of the usual interview format, im simply going to let you understand Katya through her very personal and unique artwork and their descriptions. She describes her work as a “diary”–an emotional and philosophical outlet for the world to see. Enjoy.
For a very long time my skin would crawl the second someone picked up my sketchbook. I felt as though by looking at my art the outsider were looking into my soul, like they were reading my diary, or my thoughts.
Finally I am at the point where I am comfortable enough to share myself with the world outside of my own head. The fact that I can share my artwork is a huge step for me and it has become very liberating. It is exhilarating to expose myself is such a raw way, like I am standing on the edge of a cliff looking down; and now I am not afraid to see the bottom. I am not afraid of others seeing into me. It has become a way for me to face my inner torment – by forcing those feelings out into the open I force myself to accept them.
Color choice has always been an important part of the planning process for my work. In the past few years I have been developing my own personal relationship with color – learning psychological and physiological effects each color has on human beings.
This piece has a great deal of personal emotion invested in it. One of the reasons being that the model is a very close friend of mine. Knowing the kind of person that he is really influenced the color and composition this.
The colors used were chosen particularly for their symbolism; green is a color of healing, balance, and life. Gold is symbolic of the sun – not only shedding light and truth, but also giving life to all it comes in contact with. Gold is a color of power, strength and justice. It is also a reference to “The Golden Rule” – treat others as you would be treated. It is no coincidence that I chose to lay the gold in the area surrounding the heart. The person who inspired this piece is very nurturing and loving, and always trying to do “the right thing.”
I chose the position the body in a way to clearly display each contour line of his muscular anatomy. The position evokes reference to Christ’s crucifixion, though I myself am not religious. The reference is more about sacrifice and selfless love than structured religion.
Another theme one might notice in my work is the sexual undertones in each piece.
Human sexuality is a huge personal interest of mine. I love learning about the human psyche and the psychology behind our thoughts, feelings, and motivation.
I believe that each individual’s sexuality has a huge impact on our personality. This is not to say that one must be sexually active for it to effect us – human sexuality is not simply about “sex.” Human sexuality is a basic human instinct that influences our actions and desires.
“Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.” – Picasso once said. For me it is exactly that. An outlet to express things I either don’t want to say or don’t know how to.
I’ve heard many people say every artist puts themselves in each piece. I do believe that there is a part of myself in every piece I create whether it is bright and cheerful or dark and disturbing.
I have been battling depression for years, and over this past summer I completely broke down. I hit a wall. It was the most painful experience I’ve been through yet. It was completely debilitating – I couldn’t speak, only scream and sob. I co uld hardly move, the only thing I could do was carve and paint, scream and sleep. This was the only outlet I had. I wanted to hurt everything around me, I wanted to hurt myself. I had the most uncontrollable urge to destroy everything. Luckily I had art as an outlet and was able to release some of my pain through this. It saved me.
Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting Erik Benson. The self-proclaimed Renaissance man currently double-majors in Art and Advertising at Rowan University. He hopes to one day utilize both degrees to work in the creative arena of advertising. Erik speaks about what initially inspired him to get into art in the audio clip below.
Spotswood, NJ native, Danielle Brazinksi, loves people and art, so shes decided to pick up dual majors in art and psychology to eventually pursue a career in art therapy. She is heavily involved in PROS (Peer Referral Orientation Staff) and Pscyh Alliance. When she isn’t working as a waitress, in class, or at meetings, she spends her time engaging in her raison d’etre: creating art.
Danielle chooses not to name her pieces, she would rather people assign a title based on their own opinions.
How would you describe your artistic philosophy?
I suppose my artistic philosophy is to be able to visualize what you’re putting down on canvas, paper, etc-to be able to express or convey your own message. There are so many possibilities for you to enjoy while your mind is putting your ideas out for the world.
Why did you initially get into art?
Whenever I was in school-from the beginning where Art classes for a necessity for you to take-I always excelled past most students with my abilities. So when I got to high school and I could continue them, I did. The teacher that I had was someone who got you so mad at her that you pushed yourself to do the best you could. She did it out of love for her students, and it was the best thing that could have happened to me. I got into Advanced Placement Art and then into nine different colleges because of my portfolio.
Which art courses did you enjoy the most?
The art classes that I enjoyed the most were probably Jewelry and Metals because it was a way different technique than I have ever been exposed too. I was able to build 3-D pieces out of metals. I also thoroughly enjoyed my Expressive Drawing class. I was able to be as free as I wanted. There were very thin guidelines, so I was able to express myself in the best way. Also, I will add in Perception because I was able to learn about the visual system and how it responds to color from the scientific aspect of it.
What does Rowan’s membership to PAFA mean for art students?
The PAFA membership is majorly beneficial to Rowan Students in general. There aren’t many people out there who don’t enjoy looking at something magnificent like art pieces. The Rowan art students are able to go there for inspiration, and to enjoy someone’s art besides their own.
What artists influenced you the most when you started making art?
The artists that influenced me the most when I first started making art were actually the people around me. I learned so many different techniques watching them. The project that influenced me the most was when we were assigned to paint a mural in the high school. We had to work in groups, and the people that I worked with were on board to go above and beyond to paint a 576 ft mural, filling an entire hallway in the school.
What artists currently influence you?
I am, and always will be, a Salvador Dali fan. I come across many different artists and I pick up things here and there. I like Banksy a lot because he has many different qualities about his work. Chuck Close has always had a place in my heart to because of his amazing work with color. He has so many colors on a canvas, that create such an astounding piece. It is difficult to go through all my inspirations because I’ve picked up so many things over the years from things I’ve seen.
If you could give an aspiring artist one bit of advice what would it be?
If I could give words aspiration to a new artist, I would tell them that no matter what anyone else says, you are an artist because you’re able to create something that no one else can.
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