Campus gallery showcased students’ artwork
Artwork by students who participated in this summer’s study abroad programs in Europe was recently displayed around campus.
The Tippetts Gallery, located in the Chase Fine Arts Center, showed Foreign Roads: Paintings by USU students in Germany. The gallery also recently concluded the Swiss Intersections: Inside Out, Outside In, which presented the photography of USU students studying in Switzerland. While the Swiss Intersections show ended on Sept. 13, many images were displayed from the USU photo lab, said Amber Quesenberry, who works at the Tippitts Gallery and serves on the gallery committee.
According to a bulletin posted in the exhibit, students participating in the Germany program were told by professor Chris Terry, who organized and headed the course, on their first day of classes, “There is a time in life when you are learning to be an artist, and there is a time when you have to be an artist. Now is the time to be an artist.”
Foreign Roads consisted mostly of master studies, where students reproduce artwork found in museums. Another bulletin also informs that most of the paintings were completed between 45 minutes and two hours, being drawn on location.
The Tippitts Gallery is free to students and open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Attendance for both exhibits was good said Melissa Stowe, senior studying theater performance who works at the Caine School of the Arts box office located in the Tippitts Gallery.
“The good thing about having it here is a lot of people have rehearsals in the back so they see the art going back and forth,” Stowe said.
Foot traffic between classes and the presence of the ticket office also contributed to the show’s viewership. Stowe said students often enter the gallery between classes, or while purchasing tickets for campus events.
“A lot of times they by their tickets and get distracted and come see the art,” she said.
Viewership in the Tippits Gallery has not always been as high. Stowe said during the summer semester a sculpture exhibit was lucky to draw 10 people in a day. The study abroad exhibits, on the other hand, were much better received, averaging 30 viewers daily.
“We get everyone – kids, adults and people who normally wouldn’t see the art,” Stowe said.
The attendance to the display was not unnoticed by the artists.
Quesenberry said, “I appreciate the exposure greatly and I’d hate to see it change in any way.”
Selections from the Swiss Intersections exhibit have been moved to the Ellen Eccles Theater on Main Street for the Logan Gallery Walk on Sept. 26, said Sara Villella, a student who participated in the Switzerland program. Three of Villella’s pieces appeared in Swiss Intersections and one piece will be showcased at the Gallery Walk.
“I hope it’s my best one,” Villella said.
The Switzerland program lasted one month, from June 1 to July 1. Students taking part spent 20 days studying and had 10 days for personal travel, visiting one to three different cities every day. The photos and paintings in both exhibits are representative of the many locales and experiences that students were able to take part in.
“I feel like it really opened my mind to creativity and possibilities,” Villella said. “It helped me to get out of my Logan mind frame and get excited about culture and art from different parts of the world.”
Reactions to both Foreign Roads and Swiss Intersections has been positive, Quesenberry said. Villella said she was impressed with the exhibits and thought the university had done a good job presenting the art.
Information on upcoming events from the Caine School of the Arts and Gallery exhibits can be found by visiting the Tippitts Gallery or looking on the Caine School’s Web site, csa.usu.edu.
–b.c.wood@aggiemail.usu.edu