The Department of Art and Design is showcasing student talent with a “Faculty Select Exhibition” in the Walker Art Gallery. The show, which runs from Jan. 22 through Feb. 22, displays works carefully selected by faculty.
Matt Ziemke, the gallery director since the fall of 2021, shared the process of creating this specific show.
“The work is actually selected by the faculty of students’ work that is exemplary,” Zimeke said. “I limit the faculty to around 8 works for their area.”
There are several different areas of works presented such as glass, ceramics and drawing. This helps to create a modest space with balanced samplings of works. The work displayed is a cumulation of pieces from the past couple of years, as this show hasn’t been officially done for two years.
As one walks around the exhibit, they can get a sense of the space that surrounds them. While the gallery displayed an array of 2D works created on canvases and digitally, the paper and glass sculptures also showcased 3D elements in the gallery.
One of the art department’s students, Tia Broadwell, was able to display artwork from her courses. Her favorite project was from her Drawing 2 class, which displayed an amalgamation of images.
Broadwell spent roughly four hours every day for a month in the studio working on the project until it was finished.
“We had a little still life set up inside the classroom,” Broadwell said. “We also had to take a master copy of the work and take pieces from that, photoshop it into the still life and then draw it.”
Ziemke shared what one should take away from viewing this gallery.
“The work speaks for itself,” Ziemke said. “You don’t have to know a whole lot about what’s going to at least appreciate these objects because they’re well-crafted.”
Ziemke enjoyed seeing all of the pieces of the show come together.
“From the perspective of an instructor, to get to handle all this work and put it together, it has been really inspiring to see just how much we really offer to our students,” Ziemke said. “I think it’s fun to explore these different ideas and different modes of expression for the viewer.”
The gallery can be viewed from Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. For its next show, the gallery will be formulating an alumni show, which will display pieces from students from the past 25 years. After that, they will put together a show for students that are graduating from art education, graphic design and studio art.
Photos by Shelby Berglund / Antelope Staff
