Gallery features women's artwork

When Anna Lamb walked into the art gallery on the first floor of the Art and Journalism Building, she said she was amazed by the wide array of viewpoints reflected through the artwork.

About 30 women created 63 pieces of art using media including photography, sculpture, paint, metal work, jewelry and video.

Ball State University students and faculty had the opportunity to partake in the Nina B. Marshall Memorial Women Faculty and Student Art Exhibit Reception on Wednesday.

"I love some of it and some of it I don't," said Lamb, an alcohol education coordinator at Ball State. "But I am amazed at the talent and the media used. It shows off a lot of diverse talent and nice variety."

The memorial exhibit is being presented in honor of Marshall, an art professor who died last May, and the exhibit runs through April 8.

Since 1994, Marshall organized the Women's Week Art Exhibit, and from this year forward, the exhibit will always carry her name, Women's Studies Director Kim Jones-Owen said. Jones-Owen gave a short speech at the beginning of the reception to honor Marshall and tell how influential Marshall was to her students and co-workers.

Kyla Stratton, a senior art education and metals major, said the reception was a chance for the women artists whose work was featured to talk to people about their work, to mingle and to discuss art in general.

Joshua McCutchen, senior oil painting and video art major, said "It is refreshing to see the woman's perspective in the art world." He and senior printmaking major Benny Sanders said they agreed that if someone didn't know it was a women's exhibit, people wouldn't be able to tell just by looking at the art if a woman or man made it. Looking at the art made him curious as to how the pieces were made, Sanders said.

Leslie Rodgers, a senior photography major, has pieces of art in the exhibit, and she said Marshall was very involved with women's studies.

"It being dedicated to Nina, it's a nice show in her honor," Rodgers said. "Marshall was involved in the evolution of women being taken on the same pedestal as men."

Many students and viewers agreed the art exhibit and reception was a good opportunity for students and the community to gather to talk about women in art and honor Marshall at the same time.

"I love looking at different art," junior women's studies and psychology major Lauren Eison said. "It's important to highlight women in art because women bring a lot to the table in the art world." ELEVEN INCHES