Newspapers / The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.) / Nov. 14, 1997, edition 1 / Page 7
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The Guilfordian November 14,1997 Faculty art exhibit in Hege begins ♦Part-time instructor Young presents her work BY AMANDA BECOM Staff Writer Lisa Young's hands tell she is an artist. Her short fingernails, of ten black with charcoal grime or softly muted with the residue of clay, convey what media she uses. On Wednesday, November 5, in the Gallery in Hege Library, Lisa Young's hands illustrated the sto- ries of how her sketches, now on display, came about. Just one in an ongoing se ries of faculty lunchtime art talks, Young's discussion pre sented not only the work of the artist but the artist behind them. A continuing part-time pro fessor in the ceramics department, Young is usually known for her pots. She also teaches drawing at Guilford, emphasizing the impor tance of involvement with the ma terials. She feels most students who take drawing are convinced that artists don't have to work, saying, "They believe it's natural skill on paper." As an artist, she knows that much more than "natural skill" is needed to keep producing work. The paintings now on display ex emplify this. Asked to present sketches in a show, she decided that none of her 700 existing draw ings met her expectations. She rolled up her sleeves, got her charcoals and prepared to start something new. One question left: what would she draw? She began numerous drawings only to rub them back into the paper, unsatisfied. One day, she sat upon her bed drawing a pile of clothes. Her dog, hungry for attention, kept crawl ing in and out of the jumble of laundry, appearing and then dis appearing. It hit her then that she could draw her dogs. At first she drew what she saw, f " H __________ Young explains her canine symbolism. Features like the sketch with the laundry and the dog, or the picture of her two dogs lounging, staring out the window, unusually calm. Then she turned to more symbolic dogs, re sulting in sketches like a dog su perimposed upon an envelope, representing a custody battle be tween the divorcing owners. Young then turned to her "in ner dogs," and began to sketch those. Like "Junkyard Lassie," a have to stop being a good girl." She answered the questions of friends and strangers, colleagues and students, all of whom were cu rious about the work and the art ist behind them. Music teacher Tim Lindeman asked of Young: "How important is it to you to show your work?" Young answered back with a surprising and raw confession. She told the group that it was hard to make art that satisfies only what she needed. "Sometimes I have to stop," she said, "and do work for just my self. But most of the time if I know I am doing work no one will like or is interested in buying, it isn't satisfying for me either. I need the feedback from people to continue making art." The mean dog of Lisa Young stared down at the crowd from the wall as the artist, potter and lover of all things canine, looked to the crowd from behind large, dark tinted glasses. Her thanks for having an op portunity to show work and re ceive criticism and praise in a com fortable environment was evident. Young exhibits not only her work, but the struggle of the artist, and the life lessons of a teacher. Carter and Morscheck ♦This week: "Starship Troopers," playing Brassfield People who see "Starship Troopers" ex pecting lots of special effects and violence will get what they pay for, but unfortu nately the movie at- tempts characterization and endeav ors to show a militaristic future so ciety, failing in both areas. What we're left with is a movie that ignores logic and sensibility; it's well put together but hastily composed. In the future, the galaxy is di vided between humans and giant bugs who do not interact until the bugs hit Earth with a meteorite (which traverses the galaxy rather quickly), apparently in retaliation for human incursion into their space. Humans declare war on the bugs and loads of fighting ensues. The characters are in a double love triangle: Diz (Dina Meyer) likes infantryman Johnny (Casper van Dien), who, along with pilot Zander (Patrick Muldoon), likes the plastic smiled Carmen (Denise Richards). Two characters conveniently die to solve these problems. While the special effects are excellent, they lack originality. The scenes in outer space are well done but they're nothing new. The com puter-animated bugs blend well with the live action, but there are just so many ways to see bugs and humans kill each other before it gets boring. The film freely rips off situa tions and themes from sources like "Aliens" and the "Star Wars" mov ies. Also, the boot camp scenes try hard to be "Full Metal Jacket" but fail miserably. The right-wing, militaristic re gime of the future is handled more as a novelty than a real government. Furthermore, propaganda ads shown throughout the film are meant to be silly yet serious at the same time. I couldn't decide what message the movie was trying to get across. While "Starship Troopers" has some impressive effects and a few good scenes, overall it's not worth seeing unless you just want to see graphic violence between humans and giant bugs. If that's the case, this movie is for you. drawing of Young's own inner "mean dog." About this par ti c u 1 a r sketch she told the crowd, "Some times I Becca Lee BY JONATHAN CARTER Features Film Critic BY PETER MORSCHECK Features Film Critic Becca Lee asncry Aiuy acterization. Director Paul Verhoeven ("To tal Recall," "Showgirls") knows the primary draw here is special effects: the audience wants to see soldiers blowing up bugs, and not much else. Therefore the good-looking cast is largely composed of no-names, with some surprises like Jake Busey (who looks exactly like his father Gary), Rue McClanahan (one of the Golden Girls!) and Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser!!). In fact, I was pleasantly sur prised that "Starship Troopers" had as much characterization as it did, following the main characters from the day they decided to join the mili tary, through basic training, and then through a series of extremely bloody battles. Still, with dialogue at times on par with that of an Ed Wood movie, and a plot that might as well have come out of a can, the film is pretty poor. I imagine Robert Heinlein, upon whose novel this movie is based, is turning over in his grave. As in "Aliens," the enemy here is a race of ugly bugs, who seem to be attacking mankind because it is there. Actually, these bugs are arachnids, superbly animated crea tures who specialize in tearing off the limbs of their prey prior to kill ing them. I don't think I've ever seen so many detached limbs or torsos on screen before. Be warned, as a war movie, this film contains tons of vio lence and gore. A prime example of the two-star movie, "Starship Troopers" delivers the sheer escapism that its cast of hundreds and spectacular special effects promise. If you're looking for a quality movie in the same vein, however, check out "Aliens," "Platoon," or "The Dirty Dozen," all films to which "Starship Troopers" owes a great debt. 7 "Starship Troopers" is a good "B" movie, a by the-numbers combination of war and sci ence fiction with the req uisite ro mance and minimal char-
The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.)
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