Malone Gallery is currently housing two student projects, designed to capitalize on the participating students’ strengths, while also pushing them past their comfort level.
From now until Tuesday, Feb. 14, Malone Hall will be exhibiting student artwork from classes taught by Larry Percy, associate professor of art and design.
Currently housed are two separate projects: “Dreams, Paths, Threats” and “Samurai Helmets.”
At first glance, the gallery exhibits many beautiful colors and designs that have unique, eye-catching qualities.
On the left side of the room, the “Dreams, Paths, Threats” project grabs attention with its use of light, color and various mediums. In this project, students were asked to create an assemblage based on how they felt about three words of the project title.
Percy’s reasoning behind this is that “we all have dreams, we all have paths and we all face threats.”
Percy explained the project as a high-end, problem-solving project where students had an abundance of freedom in its creation. Students were able to use diverse mediums to fabricate in 3-D what they saw in their minds, including glass, paint, plastic and whatever else they could find to bring their dreams into reality.
“This project was incredibly complex in that I was pushing some of these students into uncharted waters,” Percy said. “In the end, I was amazed with the way the pieces reflect and inform their makers and each other’s thoughts on the premise of the show.”
Victor SanakaiPapi, senior art major from Columbus, Georgia, and one of the students who took part in the “Dreams, Paths, Threats” project, said, “It is a beautiful thing to draw inspiration from yourself and what you feel like or what you are thinking. . . and documenting it in art.”
He explained that the project was difficult for him because he had a hard time figuring out the design.
“What I struggle with the most is trying to see exactly what it is that I want from this project,” SanakaiPapi said.
On the other side of the gallery, the “Samurai Helmets” project leads the eyes. Each helmet has its own uniquely inspired design.
The project, inspired by Percy’s recent viewing of a samurai armor show, required students to find their “inner warrior” by not only coming up with noble qualities that described themselves, but also virtues that described their families. These qualities were incorporated into the design of the helmet.
“As the fall term unfolded, I began to realize that I had a pretty good group in both sections of this course, but their performance and output on this capstone project speaks volumes about how much they progressed in terms of fabricating 3-dimensional forms and exercising the creative use of materials,” Percy said.
“Each student did a great job of communicating the personal and generational ‘clan’ characteristics that were conceptual foundation for the helmet designs. There are just some fabulous designs in the show.”
Both projects insisted students push their boundaries, forcing them to reflect on how they feel about themselves and others and what it is they believe about abstract concepts; however, the end result for each project takes an entirely different form.
Not only are the two projects completely different in terms of assignment, but each individual work of art is distinctive to the student who created it.
“I really liked both parts to the exhibit; there were some super creative pieces, and I could tell that there was hard work put into them,” said Anna Hughes, junior English major from Pelham, after viewing the exhibit. “I enjoyed the ‘Dreams, Paths, Threats’ projects, and I also really enjoyed the varied designs of the helmets.”
You can check out the projects in the art gallery in Malone Hall. It stays open on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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