Art lovers and the general community who explore the top floor of the Ball State University Museum of Art in April will be greeted by paintings with provocative content, steel structures and the occasional sounds of television static.-á
The Ball State Museum of Art will showcase selected works from 85 student artists as part of its 72nd Annual Student Art Show. Friday night's opening reception marked the beginning of the show, which will remain open to the public until April 29. This year's theme, "Icons of Art: 1930-2007," focuses on the evolution of art throughout contemporary history, said David Hannon, assistant professor of art and one of the planners of the art show.
The show highlights a wide range of art genres, from traditional paintings and sculptures, to technology-infused video segments and photography, to potential Norah Jones compilation CD covers.-áAcrylic and pencil were common media among the selected entries, but metal, colored pencil, wood, rolled-up newspaper clippings and thread also made their way into some of the students' works.
Senior architecture major Stephen Killion has two pieces featured in the show. One piece, "Transformers," is a 3-D digital reconstruction of the 1980s Hasbro toy and involved nearly 30 hours of work. He said the most time-consuming elements were digital layering and laser cutting.
"I was inspired to create the artistic idea from the inside," Killion said.-á"I also wanted to mix my architecture background and my art background. I had access to the laser cutter from the architecture department, which a lot of other art students don't have access to."
Killion found the inspiration for his painting, "While Supplies Last," from international conflicts, he said.-áAfter reading two newspaper articles exposing the Congo's rebel militia's killing of hippopotamuses and silverback gorillas for money, Killion created an artistic rendering of the strife. His pencil-and-acrylic painting features a hippopotamus and gorilla in a jungle habitat. The latter wears a "My Name Is:" tag with the name of "Target Practice."
Killion was not the only artist whose work was a result of current events. Sophomore April Bey's creation, "Mapping Current Events," was inspired by the hanging of Saddam Hussein. Because Bey felt the situation itself was so serious, she decided to put a humorous twist on it, she said.
The painting combines the likenesses of Hussein and Arnold Schwarzenegger into one character by the name of "Husseinegger."-áWith an American flag waving behind him and a gun in his hand, the layout of the piece is reminiscent of a promotional film poster.-áBelow "Husseinegger" the painting reads: "Noosinator 2: The noosinator becomes the noosed."
While Bey and Killion were newcomers to the exhibit this year, senior Michael Clinger is an art show veteran. "Icons of Art" marked his fourth year as a participant in the annual student art show.-á
Throughout his art show experiences, Clinger has dabbled with many art forms such as painting, sculpture, drawing, graphic design, photography, ceramics and "a little bit of everything," he said.
Clinger, an electronic arts and animation major, has two pieces in the show: "Clinger Family Vacations 1993-2005," a copper-and-brass replica of a Barnum's Animals Crackers box and "Aisle N," a self-made video about a student's experience in an aisle of the library.
"Clinger Family Vacations" includes detailed animals within the confines of the animal cracker box, each one loosely representing one of Clinger's family members.
"We were assigned to make autobiographical pieces, and we had taken some family vacations over the years," Clinger said. "I liked the style, the circus-type object, but it wasn't necessarily autobiographical. It's not too personal."
Senior art major Ross Wagner has two paintings in the show. One is a self portrait, and the other, "Delaying the Fall," has an image of a bell and a trap. Both objects are designed to draw people to a place, Wagner said.
Wagner will graduate in May, and he plans to continue making art while finding a way to support himself.
"I'll do whatever I can do to keep going," he said.
The content of future art shows is open to suggestions. Ideas include the addition of a dance or the creation of a whole evening designed around the students and their work, said Sam Minor, assistant professor of art and one of the show's planners.
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