2022 AMUM Juried Student Exhibition

Department, Major, & Focus: Studio Arts
Year: Junior
Dimensions: 12 x 9
Medium/Media/Materials : Linocut, Akua black ink
Method: Linocut
Year: 2021
Artist Statement: This print is inspired by the classic slogan, “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil”. These tasks are easier said than done. This motto is most commonly depicted using monkeys, which dilutes it’s message. I have replaced the monkeys’ hands with images of my own human hands in an effort to refocus the audience at which this message is aimed. Looking at the carefully and meticulously carved curves of the surface of each hand the viewer should be reminded that our actions leave marks and ask themselves what kind of story or image they want their actions to tell.

Department, Major, & Focus: Department of Art, Studio Arts, Ceramics
Year: Junior
Dimensions: 8 x 10 x 0.5
Medium/Media/Materials : Caligo safe wash relief ink on Masa paper.
Method: Reduction Linocut print
Year: 2021
Artist Statement: Since my childhood in the rural North Dakota prairies, I have had an unquenchable interest in my natural surroundings. This interest led me to a 30+ year career as a research ornithologist. Bird species are so diverse, abundance, and widespread that they are found in all environments on earth: from pole-to-pole, terrestrial and aquatic, as well as mountains and deserts. As such, birds are routinely observed by nearly every human, regardless of where they live. Even though many people can relate to birds being in their daily lives, art prints that depict unfamiliar birds, or birds in less-familiar settings, may inspire viewers to explore beyond their everyday environs. In the linocut ‘Hooded Merganser,’ multiple shades of grey and blue were used to give the water a sense of movement and depth. Blue-black was used to provide focus on this aquatic bird.

Department, Major, & Focus: Department of Art, Studio Arts, Ceramics
Year: Junior
Dimensions: 20 x 24 x 12
Medium/Media/Materials : Ceramic sculpture resting on wooden bench.
Method: Cone 6 fired ceramic sculpture of couple; cut and stained wood constructed bench.
Year: 2021
Artist Statement: Since my childhood in the rural North Dakota prairies, I have had an unquenchable interest in my natural surroundings. This interest led me to a 30+ year career as a research ornithologist. Although my abiding interest in wildlife remains, more recent viewings of sculptures by Woodrow Nash inspired me to return to the study of art. As I aspire to emulate the magnificent artistry seized by the works of Nash, I have rekindled my latent interest in the human form – especially faces and torsos. People are even more pervasive in our daily lives than are birds. Consequently, images of people can often stimulate the imagination of viewers. In ‘Couple on Park Bench,’ two ceramic figures on a wooden park bench enjoy each other’s companionship on a hot summer afternoon. The female figure rests languidly as her head rests upon her beau’s lap.

Department, Major, & Focus: Department of Fine Arts, Studio Arts, Painting
Year: Senior
Dimensions: 26 x 14 x 1
Medium/Media/Materials : Watercolor, gouache and ink on paper
Method: Water-based painting
Year: 2021
Artist Statement: Artmaking is innately vulnerable. The viewer and artist exchange in a highly intimate and trusting act with one another. In my practice, I initiate the viewer in conversation with the abject--those things from which we derive shame, pleasure, discomfort, and confusion. My paintings express the vulnerability of the body, the dynamics of vulnerability between people, the way vulnerability can sometimes become a source of power. These concepts manifest in my work as they relate to women and female sexuality. Western art has been dominated by a singular voice for the past several centuries. While the female body is common in art, the female voice is often stifled. The human figure, both female and male, reflects taboos and how self-imposed proscriptions manifest or conceal themselves in our interactions. My paintings place the viewer in the position of voyeur, while the paintings act as exhibitionists. Man-made objects act as stand-ins for the figure as well, indicating a human presence in the absence of a body. Through painting, I explore the manifestations of a gendered society through a feminine perspective. I hope to highlight hypocrisy within gender constructs and projected sexuality to create a more holistic view of the feminine. The gap between inner self and outer presentation, physical and emotional, invites contemplation of the performance of being.

Department, Major, & Focus: Department of Fine Arts, Studio Arts, Painting
Year: Senior
Dimensions: 9 x 9 x 1
Medium/Media/Materials : Watercolor on paper
Method: Water-based painting
Year: 2020
Artist Statement: Artmaking is innately vulnerable. The viewer and artist exchange in a highly intimate and trusting act with one another. In my practice, I initiate the viewer in conversation with the abject--those things from which we derive shame, pleasure, discomfort, and confusion. My paintings express the vulnerability of the body, the dynamics of vulnerability between people, the way vulnerability can sometimes become a source of power. These concepts manifest in my work as they relate to women and female sexuality. Western art has been dominated by a singular voice for the past several centuries. While the female body is common in art, the female voice is often stifled. The human figure, both female and male, reflects taboos and how self-imposed proscriptions manifest or conceal themselves in our interactions. My paintings place the viewer in the position of voyeur, while the paintings act as exhibitionists. Man-made objects act as stand-ins for the figure as well, indicating a human presence in the absence of a body. Through painting, I explore the manifestations of a gendered society through a feminine perspective. I hope to highlight hypocrisy within gender constructs and projected sexuality to create a more holistic view of the feminine. The gap between inner self and outer presentation, physical and emotional, invites contemplation of the performance of being.

Department, Major, & Focus: Leadership & Policy Studies, Concentration in Student Affairs
Year: Graduate Student
Dimensions: 14 x 12 x 1
Medium/Media/Materials : Air Dry Clay
Method: Scultpure
Year: 2021
Artist Statement: Maa Durga is a Hindu Goddess. She is the Goddess of preservation, energy, strength, power, and protection. She is known as the Universal Mother and the very force of nature that gives and sustains life. As such, she is revered as the Supreme Goddess in some sects of Hinduism, primarily Shaktism. To honor her as the Supreme Goddess, Hindus refer to Maa Durga as Shakti, Devi, Adi Shakti, Parvati, Kali, and Adi Parashakti. Hindus also revere Maa Durga through various other names and forms as well. Jai Maa Durga.

Department, Major, & Focus: Department of Art, Studio Art
Year: Sophomore
Dimensions: 36 x 36 x 1.5
Medium/Media/Materials : acrylic paint, graphite, and pastel on canvas
Method: painting and mark making
Year: 2021
Artist Statement: Shelby focuses her mixed media works on the collaboration between sheer color and cutting, scrappy marks. Her milky, muddled abstracts bring peaceful sceneries and memories to the surface. Layering line carvings with intentional mark making, Shelby uses her favorite life memories to create places on canvas.