Senior art students display their work

If spring marches in like a lion, then Georgia College & State University senior art exhibitions are the lion’s roar.
This year’s senior shows, located in Blackbridge Hall, began this week with exhibitions from art major, Ashley Mangus and art marketing major, Trisha Taylor.
Mangus’ exhibition, a series of paintings and mixed media collages entitled “Absence of You” explores the emptiness she’s experienced through the absence of her husband, whose engagements with the military have taken him to Colorado.
“My exhibition comes from my exploration of emptiness that is derived from a longing I have for my spouse,” Mangus said in her artist statement. “I am using separation as a way to explore color, space and metaphorical spaces. These works have allowed me to feel comfort in his absence.”
Mangus said it was difficult creating a piece about the distance from her husband.
“We were married a month, and he’s been gone ever sense,” Mangus said. “All of it has been very difficult because it’s such an emotional piece. It was difficult, but it was also therapeutic. It helped me overcome it.”
Now in the final stages of the year-long project, Mangus said she might have underestimated her strength.
“I think I’m a little stronger than I gave myself credit,” she said. “I don’t know how I would have done it without the Lord, my family and friends and the faculty. I learned that I have that much more love for my husband.”
After graduation, Mangus plans on moving closer to her husband in Colorado and to continue creating art.
Taylor’s painting and drawing exhibition, “A Journey’s Impact,” is also a personal piece. Hung from the gallery ceiling are approximately 30 half portraits of those who have significantly influenced her life. Eight acrylic abstract paintings on the walls represent stages in Taylor’s life, including high school, college and ex-boyfriends.
At the artists’ reception Wednesday night, Taylor’s exhibit was crowded with the people featured in her illustrations. Between the hugs and handshakes, she could barely spare a moment to explain the impact they’ve had on her life and her art.
“My friends and family were the inspiration for my piece,” Taylor said. “They’ve all been very supportive. It’s been great seeing everybody here tonight. It just makes it more personal, more real to me, that they can share my art.”
Richard Lou, chair of the art department, said senior shows are always the faculty’s favorite time of the year.
“We get to see the fruits of our communal labor of the faculty and students,” Lou said. “We get attached to these students. We create these emotional ties to these students, and seeing them grow and blossom intellectually is a great feeling.”
Lou emphasized the importance of the experience as a stepping-stone towards the future.
“This is like their resume or portfolio in order for them to move on to a job or graduate school,” Lou said. “In the arts, it’s not what grade you’ve got or what school you went to, but it’s what you can do, and the portfolio is a concrete example of that. It’s also the culmination of all their training in the university and in the department. We’re one of the few departments, besides maybe music, theatre or creative writing, where the students have the public showing of their work.”
Mangus’ and Taylor’s exhibitions will run in Blackbridge Hall Gallery, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. now through April 2. Admission is free.
Check the Variety section of The Colonnade weekly to catch photos of each senior exhibit.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 2 2004. Filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry