The language of art
In the Biennial USU Art and Design Faculty Exhibition, work is showcased by current art and design faculty members at the Caine Fine Arts Center, placing specific emphasis on two new faculty members: Jared Ragland and Jerry Powers.
Upon entering the exhibit, students are enveloped in a world where diversity, modern theology and authentic human experience are memorialized in clay, paint and photographs.
After a walkthrough of the exhibit, there is also a 30-minute presentation conducted by art history professors where topics such as feminism in art and the meanings of background imagery in art are examined more in-depth. Staff members said this allows patrons to experience new ideas and thought processes within the art they have just examined and gives the student an opportunity to learn about multiple complex art theories that affect the world and the media they consume.
Antra Sinha, an art instructor and the gallery coordinator of the faculty exhibition, said she loves to see artwork of other faculty members and of her own mentors. An artist herself, Sinha’s work was also showcased in the event as the first installation within the exhibit Buddha Forms.
Sinha encourages all students to come and visit the exhibit themselves and take part in the “creative expression of their teachers.”
Two of the main installations are works from Jared Ragland and Terry Powers, new assistant professors at USU. It being their first year of teaching at USU, Sinha said they wanted to highlight their work so students could learn more about them.
“I like painting things in the world,” Powers said. “And I was spending a lot of time in that room teaching. Those tall easels and the dirty floor with paint all over everything — it wasn’t much but I thought if I painted it OK it might be something — and that’s always a worthwhile challenge.”
Powers hoped to convey a sense of “community” of Utah State with his work. Seeking to empower all who visit the exhibit, to “hopefully… see we’re all kind of in it together,” Powers said.
The exhibit will be running Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. through 5 p.m. until Jan. 21. Masks are encouraged within the exhibit and mandatory for those who are unvaccinated.
The faculty members included, and even those not included within this exhibit, encourage all students to attend this amazing exhibit and see Utah through the eyes of another and experience the similarities all humans shared through the language of art.