josh haze : exit!

I went to the senior exit show the other day to see the works of the graduating art students, i enjoyed many of the pieces however the only one that drew me into really looking at it was Marcy's series about Emmit till/Mathew Sheppard. this piece really grabs my attention both the portrait of the young boys and the descriptions of their brutal murders. it seems to me that a large amount of art is meant to be pretty so people will hang it on their walls, although very well executed i feel that these pieces are not pretty they are vile and i would never wish to display it in my home, to me art is about snapping people out of their happy little lives and showing them reality. i feel that Marcy's pieces out of all the seniors accomplished that, i could not hang this piece in my house because i would either be filled with anger, hate, loathing, disgust, etc. every time i saw it or i may become desensitized to it which would be the worst possible outcome and the exact opposite of what i feel the intentions of the piece were.

the story of Emmit till is pretty well know but forgotten in most peoples in their every day life, however the attitudes that led to it have yet to truly change, like the boys that killed Mathew Sheppard (featured in the other half of this piece ) or those that killed Luis Ramirez here in Pennsylvania, the glaring difference is see is that Sheppard's murderers are in prison, tills murderers were acquitted by an all white jury and Ramirez' s murders were found not guilty again by a all white jury. so not much has truly changed in this "post race Amerikkka" justice is still reserved only for whites. the story of Mathew Sheppard is less know yet still very important, he was beaten robbed and left tied to a fence to die, he was found 18 hours later still alive but in a coma, he died 5 days later. however the most painful part of this piece for me is the portrait of till, a 14 yr old black boy, when i see Marcy's piece i see my nephew Zion a 2 yr old black boy who i hope will never be the victim of racism/ discrimination. however i am not overly optimistic because our nation has a long history of hate. that is him and my dad in the picture above.

i feel that in these pieces Marcy wanted to show that racism and homophobia are two sides on the coin of hate and intolerance. she accomplished this goal extremely well these pieces and i hope that she continues to use her art to make the viewer question not only society but also themselves, after seeing these pieces it forced me to turn a critical eye towards myself and my actions, no i don't kill people who are different yet i do have a double standard i wont use the "N" word , i don't even feel comfortable typing it, yet i let anti-homosexual words fly out with little thought using them as a synonym for shitty, or stupid, or a hole. i will probably not be able to totally stop immediately but these pieces helped me to see that when i say the guy that cut me off in traffic is a f*cking "F", or that my public speaking class is sooooo "G" , or i tell my friend stop being a "Q" i might as well call the class, or the rude driver, my friend or my nephew a "N" because these words are both derogatory and equally hurtful. so thank you Marcy for making me look deeply inside myself and see my faults, hopefully your work will be able to have the same effect on other viewers in the future. (whether you make millions in you career or end up homeless, if you can make people look inside themselves and question themselves and the world around them then and only then are you a successful artist, )

i hope that you are successful in your future pursuits and that you never try to make pretty art, because it is useless and unneeded today, only when reality become beautiful (for all members of society) should you or any other artist focus on "pretty stuff".

Julie Farnan Extra Credit: Senior Exit Show

After my last class on April 27th, I visited the Senior Exit Show in Haas Gallery. I went to support my good friend Heather DeFrancesco, and to see her final projects she has been working hard on. Throughout the semester, Heather has been showing me her pieces for the show and telling me all about what she's making, when she showed me the final project in the gallery I was blown away.

As a digital major, it was apparent by looking at her work that she found her calling. Her two pieces followed the theme of body organs, one piece being ribs and a heart, and the other a skull with brains. Both were printed on fabric and stuffed in certain areas to give it a 3D aspect. She then sewed them up, and added a ribbon-like material around the edges of the piece. I feel that the final touch of the framing the outer part of the piece was a nice touch because it brought the piece together in both cases. Her color schemes were pinks, reds, white, and creams, and it all popped to the viewers eye thanks to the ribbon framing.

Also, the 3D aspect she added to each piece helped grab the viewers attention. In her first piece, she stuffed the area of the heart as if its popping out through the rib cage. The second piece she stuffed the brains which too are popping out, but in this case from the skull.

Heather's two pieces were very different from most others submitted in the show. This is exactly how she wanted it to be. Most pieces were neatly framed, or were 2D photography, drawings, paintings or montages. Heathers were not in perfect little frames, or on the 2D scale. Her pieces were in your face, and ready for the viewer to interact with them, and even touch them if they wanted to.

time is up

Time is up. Until the next time.

Stacy Gever Blog #2 "Saved"

This exhibition was called, "Saved" by Jody Servon and it displays photographs of objects that people have saved from deceased ones. I noticed that though all of the saved objects are random and small enough to be held, there really was no pattern between the objects. However, most of them looked like they were from the same time period. If I could guess, I would say this time period would be the years around World War II and even earlier. The artist frames all of these simple photos and puts glass in the frame, making these objects appear to have even more value and force the viewer to look harder at objects that one may normally only glance at. This way of displaying these objects work, but I would have even enjoyed to see the people who now own these objects in the photos. I'm sure there would be a vast difference within the type of people who all have this one aspect of their lives in common.

I took a photo of the "Wendy's" to-go cup. It in intrigues me because I don't understand why someone would want to keep this object. It doesn't seem to have value and I wonder why it does. Even though it is the most generic looking object in the gallery, it was the only object that really stuck out in my mind after I had left. The colors are red and yellow, and I wonder how old this cup is. The style hasn't changed much, and I wonder what kind of food was in their in the first place. I also wonder if the worker at Wendy's who put the food inside this cup had any idea in his or her mind that a picture of it would be taken and placed inside an art gallery.

The only thing I can say about this particular object that I had chosen is that I want to make a story out of it. Possibly it was a war veteran's first meal on American Soil after the war had ended, and it therefore had special meaning to him. Of course, his relatives want to support his legacy and his duties as a veteran so they kept it. Simple objects like this are special when they are saved. I love when objects are out of date. The reason is because once an object no longer has a purpose, it becomes a piece of art, and stays a piece of art forever.

The art walk was an overall great experience. All of the exhibits were unique. I was not expecting to see so many different types of art. There were paintings, drawings, quilts, photos, sculptures and more. The bands that were there were great too. They made the atmosphere more comfortable to walk around in.

The exhibit in the basement was my favorite part of the art walk. I liked how it was one big theme that went together as opposed to a whole bunch of different themes. It was so much fun to see how many different ways the artists made bowling pins. it reminded me of a hobby my dad had where he made bird houses out of anything he could find laying around.

One of the artists at the art walk named Tawnya Hemsarth is a wedding, children, and family photographer. Her artwork is very creative, and she has a distinct style that is all her own. I like the way she decides to photograph brides in common, everyday areas that other photographers wouldn't think of doing.

Anna Powlus - Assignment #2

The Art Walk-in was really neat. I loved the building inside and thought it almost seemed like a piece of art itself. I loved seeing all the different artists' works. I loved the pottery display on the middle floor, but I unfortunately didn't catch the artist. It was also pretty cool to see work from students and professors.

I really loved the bowling alley art done by the 3D students. It was fascinated to see people's inspiration and take on a bowling pin. The display looked great. It was so interesting to hear people around me saying which ones they really liked and which ones they found disturbing, such as the bowling pins made into weapons. I especially enjoyed one particular one that was done with mosaic flowered pottery pieces. I also liked one where the pin was sliced and the pieces were askew.

I went to the WalkIn with my sister and my two nieces, and my older niece became fascinated with Richard Lilley, who was painting a picture during the show, so that was who we chatted with. I thought he was quite talented, and he does things with a brush that I could never achieve, but I doubt I would ever have a real desire to own a piece of his work. Lilley told us that the painting he was working on (which included a waterfall and a train), was inspired by a trip to Ricketts Glen State Park (if you've never been there I highly recommend you go). While there is no trains there, and we knew this, he said he put the train in because he "likes trains."

I attended the Art Walk, and it was the first time I've ever gone to an Art showing/walk like that. It was very interesting, I enjoyed the laid back atmosphere and seeing so many different kinds of art work. I, especially, enjoyed the second floor. There was such a variety of artwork. I thought it was very interesting to see artwork I even recognized. And I wish I had money because I would have bought something!

In the basement was an old style bowling alley. There were pins everywhere made out of everything; cellophane, cardboard, and actual pins. I loved the big cardboard ones in that went up the lanes made out of cardboard. On display were more pins, they were crafted into different things. One was a green cannon, and there was one that looked like a flip out sword. It was very interesting and very creative.

Tawyna Hemsarth was a photographer at the art walk. On display she had a few albums from different weddings. I enjoy photography a lot, and I loved her pictures. I asked her about her photography, she said she does wedding, children, and family photography. Some of her testimonials said she was "different from other local photographers". She said she likes to capture the emotion of the bride and groom while blending the guests in as well to create beautiful albums for the bride and groom to cherish always.