Fall 2012 Senior Exhibition opens at Bradbury Gallery, Dec. 4
Hundreds of students will graduate from Arkansas State in December, but very few have the opportunity to “show their stuff” like five senior art majors.
The exhibiting artists -- Emily Ellis, Paisley Gray, Charlie Inboden, Sunnie McCarty and Danielle Smith -- have worked hard toward a very special event in their university career . . . the fall 2012 Senior Exhibition in Bradbury Gallery.
Opening on Tuesday, Dec. 4, the exhibition by the graduating art students “ . . . is amusing, thoughtful and well-crafted. The type, style and choice of materials each has selected range widely, resulting in a diverse and rewarding exhibition,” according to Les Christensen, gallery director.
The exhibit will continue through Dec. 15. Bradbury Gallery is in Fowler Center, 201 Olympic Dr.
Ellis, who is a painter and sculptor, will receive a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Her artwork has been exhibited numerous times in the Jonesboro area including the exhibition “12 x 12” at The Edge Coffee House, “Show Them Where You Come From” at the Brickhouse, and “Art Show” at The Shop in downtown Jonesboro. Her work was also seen in the “333 Exhibition” and the “Sculpture Show,” both in the Dean B. Ellis Library Gallery. The Blytheville resident has shown several times in the ASU Fine Arts Center Art Gallery including the 2011 and 2012 ASU Art Student Union’s annual juried exhibitions. Ellis was included in the “The Best of the Rest Show” in the Learning Support Services Gallery, “The Holiday Show” in Blytheville, the “Teachers Exhibition” at the Delta Gateway Museum and in “Lifeline to the Arts” at Cooper Alumni Center.
While a student at ASU, Ellis was active in the Art Student Union and was named on the College of Fine Arts Dean’s List. For the past seven years she taught at Arkansas Northeastern College, where she organized “Create Your Own Masterpiece,” an exhibition of her students’ artwork.
In talking about her intuitive approach to art-making, Ellis simply states, “I am a coloring book with no lines.” After graduation she will continue sharing her appreciation for art by teaching classes and will remain active as a practicing artist.
While still in elementary school, Gray began to immerse herself in art, doodling in the margins of her homework assignments. She continued on with the practice, ultimately leading to her study of art at ASU. Her colorful, cartoon-like drawings have been exhibited in the Art Student Union’s annual juried exhibition. Gray, a resident of Mansfield, will earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.
In her artist’s statement, she says, “My work is about storytelling and narratives focusing on individuals and their personal journeys. I am especially interested in the dichotomy between how a person is represented, either by themselves or popular culture, and the actual person within.” After graduation she will continue drawing and hopes to ultimately become a cartoonist.
Inboden is a sculptor whose work is a fantastical and cartoon-like take on alien life. His artwork has been exhibited in the “333 Exhibition” and the “Winter Sculpture Exhibition” in the Dean B. Ellis Library Gallery. Throughout his academic career he repeatedly made both the President’s and Dean’s Lists and was awarded the grant-in-aid award in sculpture. The Trumann resident will graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis in sculpture.
Inboden says of his work, “I spent much of my childhood living in my head. Imagination was a useful tool in expanding and stepping out of the bounds of my immediate, tangible reality. The creation of these whimsical creatures serves as a way to bring that cerebrally inclusive world into the physical realm of the present, thus helping to maintain that wonderment and curiosity that was so intrinsic and effortlessly available to me as a child. By manifesting these things in the real world it allows me to capture and, in a sense, transport me to my youth – one of awe and one constructed of speculative fiction, cartoons, and toys. I’m having fun.”
While at ASU McCarty has been active in the College of Fine Arts. Her focus has been on studio art with an emphasis in painting, and the Hardy resident served as a member of the Art Student Union. She also participated in the Music Department’s “Sound of the Natural State” marching band, as well as various other concert ensembles.
McCarty explains her abstract paintings by saying, “These works are inspired by images of places I've been, experiences I've had, and things that have unsettled me. To create them I take the original image and turn it into flat abstract planes of color, which then becomes the base from which I paint. It is important to me that the works resemble recognizable imagery, but cross into abstraction. This is representational of how each person experiences things differently, as well as how a person can experience the same thing two different times, and interpret each experience differently.”
After graduation, McCarty plans to move to Dallas and continue painting.
Smith, a freelance photographer from West Memphis, has been photographing the world around her since her childhood. She graduated from Pulaski Technical College in North Little Rock in 2009 with an Associate of Arts degree and she will receive a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis in photography at ASU.
Smith is a member of the Arkansas Professional Photographers Association. Her photographs can be seen on “Outdoor Photographer” magazine website.
She comments on her work, saying, “I received my first camera when I was five years old. I would take photographs of everything I saw, my animals, family, friends, and also the odd, back of the car seat or ceiling picture. As time has gone by I have found that my passion is landscapes, places, and the occasional animal. I feel that my photographs capture a moment in time. Through the display of my photographs I want to share that unique moment with the viewer.”
Gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday and 2 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, and by appointment. The gallery is closed on Monday. The exhibition is admission-free. For additional information contact the Bradbury Gallery at 870-972-3471.
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