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F E ATU RE S
Art thesis show to unveil fruits of students' labor
Story and photos by Amanda Dahill-
Moore
Each year a small handful of com
mitted art students are approved for
thesis work in their field of study.
This year, seven students have spent
their senior year delving into their
own vision, wrestling through the
problems of self-expression. Guided
by faculty and staff and supported by
one another, the moment is drawing
near when these students will bring
their vision and expression — the
product of countless hours — to the
campus community in a final thesis
show held in the Founder's Hall
Gallery on Friday, April 22.
Alex Minkin
Minkin's photos evoke a particular place through the subjectivity of one lens. His black-and-white images
are a mysterious, sometimes paradoxical exploration into the Coble bam. Built by German prisoners of war
in 1945, the bam is situated just a few miles from Guilford.
"I had been working in caves when I realized it was no longer practical to shoot them for my thesis," said
Minkin. "I was on a tour of the Coble bam when I realized that the vibe it gave off was a lot like a cave's."
Minkin's photography is both personal and wide-reaching. He cites the tension between seemingly
oppositional human emotions as a focus of his work, but at the same time acknowledges that "subjectivity
is essential to any understanding of the tmth."
Molly Spadone
Spadone melds the intimacy of home with the refine
ment of fine art. This juxtaposition of the rough and the
refined carries through each aspect of her pottery, creat
ing an eclectic, yet polished aesthetic.
"Functional objects belong in a home, but there is
a tension when they are displayed in a gallery," said
Spadone. "I am trying to smooth over that tension."
Spadone is strongly influenced by her family home.
"It's a place where beauty and functionality are com
pletely interwoven," said Spadone.
Spadone's father, who builds art-deco furniture,
helped her create several of the displays for her pots.
"These are objects of beauty, so they need to be dis
played, but they are also incredibly usable," Spadone
said. "During my show, I want people to come up and
touch everything. I want people to feel at home."
Laura McGrath
McGrath layers photography and painting in a complex
process that de-contextualizes the figure, as well as the tradi
tional approach to both artistic techniques.
"I have had a fascination with both photography and
painting for as long as I can remember, but it was not until
high school that I began to explore both seriously," said
McGrath.
This work represents the solution McGrath found to com
bine her two passions into one multi-faceted, but ultimately
cohesive process. Although her work culminates in seamless
images, the layered effect also deconstructs expected notions
of the divisions between art forms and the role of the figure.
"Fainting from photographs creates a layered, 'meta' effect
of a painting within a painting," said McGrath. "(The process)
also creates a blurring of subject and environment, and in a
way, de-contextualizes the figure."
Cloud Gamble
Gamble takes photos of used pads and discarded con
doms, but not for shock value.
"I've always been fascinated by what we discard," said
Gamble.
Gamble is installing a small room, suggestive of a bath
room, lined on the outside with abstracted close-ups of
human refuse.
"The close-ups function almost like abstractions," said
Gamble. "They re-contextualize the images."
The images on the inside, however, leave nothing to the
imagination.
"As a woman and a person, I resent expectations to look
and be a certain way," said Gamble. "This is about expos
ing what is underneath those expectations, the hidden
processes."
Unlike many art students. Gamble plans to stay on an
extra year and earn a nursing degree.
"I didn't realize it at first, but I see now that this work and
my interest in health are strongly connected," said Gamble.
For more photos see
Guilfordian.com
Brittney May
May displays objects from the world around her to
shed new light on aspects of life many of us would rath
er not look at. These objects include scavenged bottles,
dead bees, and many fruits in various stages of decay.
"Everything dies," said May. "People die and ideas
die. But decay is masked in our society."
May is a double major in anthropology and art. Her
art is strongly influenced by the work she has done for
her anthropology major.
"The two are inseparable for me," said May. "I am
constantly aware of how people's identities are strained
by the artificial roles we are forced to live in. This work
is a way for me to show what I see in a visual way,
without words."
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Zoe Sasson
Sasson's voluptuous abstractions fairly burst off the wall.
"The human body has always been my main source of
inspiration," said Sasson. "What I am working towards now
is a more expressive and contemporary way of representing
the body."
Sasson painted traditional portraits before studying
abroad in France and learned about new ways to render the
body in two-dimensions.
"I have always painted very voluptuous women, and I
used to show them in an insecure light. Now I want to show
these same voluptuous women liberated in their own skin,"
said Sasson. "During my four years here 1 have become
more comfortable with my own identity and in my own
skin. That is reflected in my body and the way I hold myself,
and I think that is true for everyone."
Gracelee Lawrence
Lawrence constructs creatures from another world —
forged in steel and clothed in woven plastic.
"It's less about what I am trying to say with these
pieces, and more how the viewer responds to them," said
Lawrence.
Lawrence began her thesis with sculptural dresses;
since then her work has evolved into something much
more geometric.
"I want the steel pieces to relate to people on a physi
cal level," said Lawrence. "Here is an encounter with an
object unlike anything else you would find in this world.
How does your body respond to that?"
Because of their large size, the steel sculptures will
be on display on the quad near Hege-Cox. Her smaller
works, what Lawrence calls "artifacts washed back from
this other world," will be indoors with the rest of the
thesis show.