Watkins Conducts ‘Conversation’ Faculty Show Aug. 25-Sept. 9
Opening reception is August 25 in Currey Gallery
(August 12, 2011)
Watkins College of Art, Design & Film presents Conversation, a mixed media exhibit featuring new work by faculty artists Shepherd Alligood, Dan Brawner and Ron Lambert, from August 25 through September 9 in the Brownlee O. Currey, Jr. Gallery on campus.
The exhibit's opening reception, from 5:30 to 8 p.m on Thursday, August 25, is free and open to the public.
Adjunct instructor Shepherd Alligood teaches in the photography department, with an emphasis on digital imaging and film; his work has been shown nationally focusing on self portraiture and performative photography and video. His 2011 video, “Rain” is part of the Conversation:
“In ‘Rain’ a figure, played by the artist, appears in a field. He walks slowly toward the camera, eventually completely enveloping the frame with his body. The video is shot through a window in the rain, which causes the figure to be distorted by the water running down the glass. The climax occurs when the figure finally reaches the camera and slides his body against the glass and leaves the frame. The video ends the same way it began, with rain dripping down a window. In this work the artist is attempting to get close to his audience. The glass/TV screen becomes a barrier between himself and his audience. This barrier is realized fully when the artist slides his flesh against the glass creating a squeaking noise. This act also leaves a brief outline on the window that is quickly covered up by the rain. This is evidence of the moment that occurred and also of the limited abilities of the artist to gain intimacy with the viewer. This point becomes increasingly evident each time the video is repeated.”
Professor Dan Brawner is chair of the graphic design department and winner of the 2010 Graphis New Talent Annual Top Instructor Award. His collection for the Conversation is called “Clutch & Brakes.”
“My work explores shifts, pauses, acceleration, and feelings of dread and excitement while crossing borders and passing down the middle. The drawings, books and prints are informed by my annual commute to Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, Mexico, and by my daily commute through The Nations in west Nashville, Tennessee, to Watkins College of Art, Design & Film. And by an unexplainable infatuation with muffler men and auto repair shops.”
Assistant Professor Ron Lambert of the department of fine art is the recipient of a Tennessee Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship Grant for 2011. Concerning his mixed-media sculptures in this show, Lambert says,
“Culture aims its efforts toward a sense of perfection. I see this in how we construct the landscape: by making it manicured we believe it is under control. The more we try to force our environment into submission, the more we are faced with the futility of imposing a system. My work is an attempt at beauty and perfection that understands the failure of that effort. I equate it to the way in which we start a process and once we are invested in it we find a problem. Instead of starting over and admitting the idea was unsuccessful, we put a patch over the issue. We start putting patches on patches and after a while the process is more about the attempts to repair than the original goal. In the end it might be the patches are more beautiful than the goal of the original plan.”
Currey Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Sunday, 2 to 4 p.m. Admission is free.