After Clarke’s sophomore and junior art majors present their works to the art professors, the sophomore/junior exhibit goes up in the Quigley Gallery every year. The students introduce their best works to the four art professors and receive feedback on their quality of work as well as their progress. This year, the gallery reception that took place on Sunday, March 2nd was full of works from many talents. The walls were lined with paintings, drawings, graphic design works and charcoal sketches, with the center of the gallery hosting ceramics and book arts projects. Thanks to the curation of Louise Kames who organizes the work of sophomores, beginning their journey into the gallery and the juniors, now moving on to their final solo showing, are represented in one art-filled room.
Art department head, Louise Kames has been installing every gallery show at Clarke for the past fifteen years, with ten to fifteen shows each year, her gallery curation count is in the hundreds. Kames describes organizing a show as “really a design problem, just like you would design a composition on a piece of paper, I design a composition of the gallery.” As the art comes to her, she has the job of figuring out how to compose the pieces in a compelling and appealing way, truly a conglomerate art piece using the works she has at her disposal. The work she receives comes directly from the reviews she conducts with the other three professors, Eric Wold, Jessie Rebik and Troy Aiken. Kames outlines the process of choosing the works, explaining that “usually students have a favorite work and then we as the faculty would then pick two or three other works to complement that work that we think is particularly strong.” Every year, this dedicated head of the art department organizes this show, watching her students grow through their work.
For some of the artists in the show, this was their first time seeing their work on a gallery wall. For sophomore Emily Merz, this was her first time seeing her work in a show, with an impressive four works on the walls. She says, “I just can't believe that I'm up there, along with everybody else, but it overall does make me happy.” She’s especially proud of her viola painting and graphite drawing of a skeleton. Showing passion for learning and improving her art, Merz looks ahead and says to expect to see more “artistic storytelling” in her future works.
A new transfer this semester to Clarke, Alyssa Vanderheiden, has two paintings in this year's show, one landscape and one still life of reflective objects. Though, this isn’t her first time presenting her work publicly. She recently had a self-portrait drawing shown in the Figge Art Museum at the college invitational. Regardless of her experience, Vanderheiden describes seeing her work in every public show as “pretty special, it feels important.” Now that she’s come to Clarke after her time at Eastern Iowa Community College, she feels her work has improved thanks to the guidance of Clarke’s professors and that she can truly be “creatively free” at Clarke. In the next year, we will be able to view the book Vanderheiden is currently illustrating and see how she will further progress in her artistic skill.
The juniors in this show have seen their work presented in the past, but by their junior show, they begin to find what they like to make and see their progress on the gallery walls. The juniors all have distinct styles and preferences in their art. Sara Theisen prefers to make 3D pieces, Abby Pierce has recently discovered her fondness for conceptual and commentary charcoal drawings, Michael Pettke has found a love for typography and layout, and Addie Robert’s passion is split between graphic design and print making. With so many different artistic preferences, this year's sophomore/junior show has a great range of diversity.
Sara Theisen describes her works in this year’s exhibit as “a little bit of everything.” Her works span painting, ceramics, and sculpture, her favorite of her pieces in the show being her altered book sculpture of the Colosseum, in which she took a book on Roman art, folded and cut the pages to depict the historic monument in paper. Theisen’s variety of works show her talent across a multitude of media.
While some juniors know exactly what they want to make, Abby Pierce is still trying to find her style, comparing her sophomore show to her junior one saying “I definitely I think I was a little bit more put together this year, explaining that “I'm trying to find what my style really is, I’ve never really been able to pinpoint exactly what I want to create.” During her last few semesters at Clarke though, Pierce has found that she’s really enjoyed making social and political statements in her pieces, using symbolism that the viewer has to look closely at to decipher.
The sophomore/junior show doesn’t stop at traditional drawings and paintings. Many graphic design projects were also displayed this year. Upperclassmen Michael Pettke and Addie Roberts showcased their design work, but also have their own favor for traditional art making methods. Pettke says he prefers to “take it to the next level” when designing by using collage and physical materials to create unique pieces. Addie Roberts has enjoyed “finding my style in the graphic design world of things, like what makes my art mine.” At Clarke, she found printmaking and has intermingled her design and print skills to create work that’s uniquely her own. Her six pieces in the show all carry her distinct style as it has evolved during her time in college.
After their junior review, Clarke’s upperclassmen are looking forward to, or possibly dreading their senior capstone projects. The senior capstone project is a gallery showing what every art student must do to earn their art degree, showing a researched collection of works under a theme of their choice. While most of them haven’t decided on their direction or theme, others know exactly where they’re headed.
With a mix of emotions: excited, nervous, overwhelmed and completely undecided, the capstone project stirs up a lot of anxiety for every art student. Michael Pettke teased his senior project as centered around the 27 club, a theory about the many celebrities who died at age 27. Coming soon to the Quigley Gallery is senior Emma Grant’s project focusing on diabetes education. No matter how they’re feeling or if they have no plans at all, Lousie Kames advises that each student get accustomed to the Quigley Gallery space as it’s where they will all inevitably end their college art career at Clarke.
Whenever the sophomore/junior exhibit comes to the Quigley art gallery, one can always expect a great assortment of works and mediums. The talent at Clarke in the art department is consummate and it shows in every student included. As the exhibit will soon come down to make way for the BVM Freedom Value exhibit coming after spring break, get your last glimpse and look out for the next Quigley gallery art exhibit, guaranteed to be filled with more compelling pieces by Clarke’s artists.