Artists invite public in for ‘Fresh’ air
A warm reception met faculty in Utah State University’s art department in an art show entitled ‘Fresh’.
It was a chance for professors to show off their work in a public reception at the Twain Tippets Gallery in the Chase Fine Arts Center Thursday night.
“It’s nice to see who’s teaching you and see their work,” said Lauren Rodriguez, a junior art major.
“Fresh” features work by five visual artists who are now the newest faculty members of USU’s art department. Eileen Doktorski, Danielle Foushee, JinMan Jo, Laura Johnson and Dan Murphy presented work in a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, ceramics and graphic art.
Doktorski received her master of fine arts degree from the Yale School of Art and joined USU after teaching at Whitman College.
“[My] bronze sculptures and mixed media installations are expressions of emotional conflict,” Doktorski said.
Foushee, a graphic artist, got her master of fine arts from Cranbrook Academy of Art. Her work in “Fresh” featured drawn and computer-generated idioms in English, such as, “Let’s blow this popsicle,” which means “I’m bored, let’s get out of here.”
“They’re phrases we use every day, but don’t exactly mean what they say,”
Foushee said.
She has also designed brochures for the Fashion Institute of Design and
Merchandising Fashion Club in L.A.
Jo, a sculptor, received his master of fine arts from the University of Iowa.
His large-scale sculptures in wood and steel are expressions of alienation and loss of identity experienced in the modern world, Jo said.
In a recent publication he wrote, “My work is like my diary; within it I express my anger and also my hope.”
He feels sculpting is a great way to relieve stress.
Johnson, a painter, received her master of fine arts degree from Indiana University and previously taught at Depaul University.
Her large-scale,
self-portraiture paintings result from her explorations of issues of female identity, displacement and the condition of being lovelorn, she said. Her favorite painting, “Alice in Wonder,” was painted in a month. All her paintings featured were from 2003.
“I don’t put anything old up, because [art is] always changing and I’m still growing a lot,” Johnson said.
Murphy, a ceramic artist, received his master of fine arts from the University of Iowa. He conducted workshops at the Archie Bray Foundation, the University of Iowa and the Ohio University before teaching at USU. Many of his ceramics pieces are in “Fresh.”
He recently finished a piece with sketches of babies on it titled,”Cry babies.” It was inspired by Logan’s inversion problem.
The exhibition runs Feb. 5-27. The Twain Tippets Gallery is open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 1-5 p.m., and by appointment by calling (435)797-3460.
-acbailey@cc.usu.edu