Gallery Hosts Spring Thesis Exhibitions, March 23-May 12

Watkins College of Art, Design & Film

presents

2012 Senior Thesis Exhibitions

All exhibitions in the Brownlee O. Currey, Jr. Gallery on campus unless otherwise noted

March 23 – April 2

Opening Friday, March 23, from 6 to 9 p.m.

Cristin Durning 
Upland, CA
 CristinDurning.com

BFA in Photography

Conchas de Pan
4x5 camera, Polaroid

Cristin Durning offers Conchas de Pan, a series of large format Polaroid prints exploring the internal border which divides the artist’s European-American heritage from her Mexican heritage. The artist does this through finding connections to her deceased grandparents who had a strong Mexican pride, which is contrasted with her longtime denial of the culture. “As a teenager I tried to hide my culture because of stereotypes, but now as an adult I find myself drawn to it. Much of my work involves investigating past memories and getting to know my grandparents and their stories through artifacts. I am beginning to get an understanding of my culture and gain the sense of pride that my family once had.”

Brandon Daniel Greer
 Nashville

BFA in Photography

Cedar

Brandon Daniel Greer is a documentary photographer, living in and photographing the South. His “Cedar” work is part photo-documentary, part sculpture, and part performance regarding his family’s relationship to their longstanding cedar woodworking business after the death of his grandfather. His work explores family lineage and relations as well as his place in the sixty-five year history of his family’s shop, “The Cedar Place.” Greer presents his work comprised of medium format photography and objects made from the cedar wood used in his family’s shop.

April 6 – 16

Opening Friday, April 6, from 6 to 9 p.m.

Sam Angel
Monticello, KY

BFA in Photography

Liminal

Statement:  Liminal explores the psychological mechanism of disassociation activated by experiences of distress or adversity. Sam Angel’s work lingers in a liminal space defined by divided streams of consciousness and separation from a tangible sense of self. Her work consist of photographs (large format, black and white film, silver gelatin prints), sculpture, and installation. 

Claudia O’Steen
Florence, AL

BFA in Fine Art

The Sound of One Hand Clapping

Through her work, Claudia O’Steen explores the idea of consciousness and the need to connect with people in order to substantiate existence. Her work consists of video, sound, and kinetic installation.

Statement: As time passes, and technological advances are made, gaps are widened between generations, and the experience of consciousness evolves. Human interaction, and the activation of our senses, allow us to validate our sentience. What then does it mean to progress into a time where words are characterized by fonts rather than intonation, and what will enable future generations to substantiate their consciousness?

Lisa Talbott
Kingston Springs, TN

BFA in Fine Art

Emergence

Lisa’s work explores the relationships and disparities between science and art, two divergent worlds that have long provided inspiration and rationality for each other.  By merging that which is rigidly governed with that which is subjective and temporal, her work combines science and art to create pieces that neither could achieve alone.   

April 6-28

at The Sending Studio (1203 Paris Avenue, #104)

Closing Saturday, April 28, from 6 to 9 pm
  

Courtney Ann Greenlee
Huntsville, AL
 CourtneyGreenlee.com

BFA in Photography, cum laude

Welcome Home

Courtney Ann Greenlee prolifically documents her life, primarily using a Hasselblad with black and white film, and also makes use of a large format camera. She keeps an ongoing record of her thoughts through journals and planners in which she draws and writes.

Greenlee is preoccupied by the tension between film photography and our accelerated digital society. By choosing aspects of this medium that require old recipes and prolonged amounts of waiting, she is holding on to a certain pace that is rapidly disappearing.

The show is comprised of three parts: fifty gelatin silver gifts arranged in a grid, a book that investigates the physicality of keepsakes, and a backroom installation guided by spoken word. During the closing reception of Welcome Home, visitors will be allowed to take a photograph from the main gallery wall at exactly eight o’clock.

April 12

at Robert Churchwell Museum Magnet Elementary School (1625 Dr. D. B. Todd Jr. Blvd.)

Opening Thursday, April 12, from 5 to 8 pm

Kevin Free
Antioch, TN

BFA in Photography

Transition

Statement: Transition photographically documents the process of moving my son from an elementary school in the suburbs into an inner city magnet school. The work in Transition is being created on a large format camera and printed digitally. There is an accompanying sound piece that will give an additional environment to the photography. 

April 20 – 30

Opening Friday, April 20, from 6 to 9 p.m.

Andi Austin
Princeton, WV

BFA in Fine Art

Stripped

Andi Austin is originally from southern West Virginia, where her family has been affected by coal mining both historically and currently.  Her work stems from ideas of mining, Appalachian culture, and her own memories of the landscape. She plans to pursue teaching and art therapy.

Statement:  West Virginia is often viewed, from an outside perspective, as simply a source of coal, and faceless miners to remove it.  To someone who grew up on its mountains, however, the vibrant culture, hard-working communities, and lush environment far out-weigh the value of the mineral, making the container more important that what is contained. My work explores the priority of the mineral and the effects of mountaintop removal mining in the back counties of southern West Virginia. 

Amy Jernigan
Springfield, TN

BFA in Fine Art

The Skin Within

Amy Jernigan is a printmaker who transforms photographs into intaglio prints. Most of her subject matter comes from her community in Springfield, TN.  A lot of her inspirations come from her community and her grandmother.

Statement: “The Skin Within” evolves from photographs about insecurities taken of Amy’s community and family. “Photographs preserve memories and record facts.” Transferring her photographs into intaglio prints connects her with her work as well as other viewers. Her African-American culture, community, friends, and family members inspire her.

Karen Voelker
Pace, FL

BFA in Photography

May 3 – 12

Opening Thursday, May 3, from 6 to 9 p.m.

James Tyler Blankenship
Huntsville, AL

BFA in Photography

Projections

Projections is an exterior installation which translates the artist’s working memory into a visual experience. Viewers are invited to observe and sit with the work. Projections includes wood, fabric, projector, found and recorded footage/sound.

Megan Chunn
Winston-Salem, NC

BFA in Fine Art

Anatomize

Statement:  I am a collector of trivial materials, but these objects often hold explicit associations and invaluable memories within their physical forms. By exploring the intricate novelties within the collected items, I seek to find connections between life and objects. The comparison between the environments created by nature and the architecture humans create comprises a major theme in the work: contrasting the organic and the artificial. This idea is evident in the process of the work’s construction: clarifying the uncontrolled in conjunction with the restricted patterns as a means to conjugate space. Thus, the residue of physical action is manifested within the pieces, as it becomes less ornamental and more metaphorical exploration.

Amanda Sledge
 Nashville

BFA in Photography

Hey Mom, Is This Me?

Statement:  In Hey Mom, Is This Me?, photographer Amanda Sledge fixes her lens on a sentimental yet humorous analysis of what it means to be an individual within a family. The focus of Hey Mom, Is This Me? centers upon the struggle to find individuality within family. Amanda Sledge investigates her family’s affect on her through pieces of her past including portraits, family photos, birthday cards, and old t-shirts. Presented in a slightly dramatic yet slightly humorous way, the show provokes the viewer to analyze his or her own family life, and what it means to assert individuality within a family whole.