The work of our Longwood art seniors now hangs in the Longwood Center for Visual Arts (LCVA) in the farthest left room and the adjacent room behind. They will stay there for a month, and each tells a striking story fueled by the deep emotions of the creating artists. Take the comparative architectural drawings by Robert Winters, tracing a correlation between his hometown of Norfolk and the small town of Farmville where he’s gone to college. Kristin MacQuarrie’s stoneware lies on runners of linocut paper inlaid with vegetable fiber. Recipes on Mohawk paper of a delicious soup sit beside it; part of her eloquent testimony to the growing season in a Virginia garden that spans from March to November.
On the farthest right wall is Angii Holloway’s project called “My Normal,” showing portraits of her father, little sister and mother over an open suitcase containing military parade uniform and a Korean dress. Off to the corner of the suitcase lies a photograph of Holloway herself, the clearest image of a calm face with two yelling in profile and faded behind it.
To understand what went into the Senior Art Exhibition, Exhibition Manager for the LCVA Alex Grabiec introduced the process before the final product that opened on Saturday, April 13. When asked about the preparation that went into the dazzling array of student ability, he stated, "I think a good amount. I think that the seniors spend their entire college career doing projects and finishing their artwork. Ad far as the LCVA goes, we meet with the students, we meet with the faculty, several months before opening to go over a few things, a few dates, just to make sure things can work. As best as they can. Then the students bring their work, we work with them, we place them, spend an entire evening hanging, problem solving... it really is a long term process but a good long term."
Grabiec, who has spent five years professionally helping seniors to organize their work for the exhibition, is part of the LCVA effort that sequences the art beforehand and assists the students in putting up their work. The places that LCVA requires pieces to be hung are chosen for many reasons, but one in particular is security. “We need to make sure we’re following certain safety codes,” said Grabiec. The placement is a bit of a “give and take,” according to Grabiac. “We call it a give and take, but it’s all trying to show all the art work in the most positive light possible so nothing takes away from anything ... everything flows, and it’s a balance of things.”
In the end, the LCVA gives the opportunity to show a finished piece, granting the students a taste of being in a gallery or museum. Outside of this, the LCVA grants the exhibiting seniors an audience larger than Longwood.
The LCVA, serving 10 counties and opening its doors to visitors from toddler to elder, gives the young artist a chance to be enjoyed and seen by people they may never meet.
One striking work that may catch the attention of anyone who takes the time to scan the back wall is “Testimony of an Astronaut” by senior painting and drawing art major Jeanne Howe.
It is a grid of 15 paintings, each of unequal size showing scenes with an astronaut or astronauts going through space or their disembodied suits holding the globe. Surprisingly, it’s religious in nature, the map Jeanne has drawn to illustrate her “struggles with God and what [she has] learned about him.”
It reflects Jeanne’s lack of faith in contemporary Christian art or music which she says is “kind of cheesy, kind of gimmicky.” If anything, it reflects Jeanne’s taste for harsher Christian music that really speaks to her experiences.
Getting the material for the canvas in cut sheets at Lowe’s, Jeanne clamped white pine on the sides; after 12 hours, she guessed the new construction to prepare it for oil paint. Then she slowly began to work on each haunt- ing picture of a space man floating in the void.
When asked about her feelings, Jeanne said, “It was just really cool. It could be a little overwhelming ... that work is a basic summary of something very close to me. It is religion, and sometimes, if you talk about religion [to some people, they decide to] immediate[ly] shut down. That’s scary for me. There’s one friend who said they didn’t get it. That’s all right. It’s more for me; it’s a map for myself.”
With the LCVA granting students, not only the chance to show off their art work, but the feelings attached to that, then we can place hope in the success of this resource, whether seen at a bustling opening or on a slow, quiet afternoon.
This week the LCVA hosts work from senior members of the Art department
