Art exhibit sparks interest

A reception was held in honor of artist Frances De La Rosa on Aug. 28 at Blackbridge Hall Art Gallery, where she gave an art talk while her works were being exhibited.

De La Rosa spoke about her exhibition, which is on display.

“I have an interest in gardening, and in gardening I like to plan and design the grounds. This .transforming of nature, making it take certain shapes, plains, certain textures, different configurations, that is very intrinsic in my personality, so when I look at a landscape I get more of a sensual feeling from it,” De La Rosa said. “Like, how the sunlight feels on my face, the breeze, the colors, the sounds. That’s really what I try to capture.a sensual memory of an experience.”

Nature is a common theme of her work.

“There are some periods in my work where I have used the human figure in a landscape environment, and metaphors.” she said.

De La Rosa grew up in Uniontown near Selma, Ala.
“It’s called the black belt region because of the rich dark soil,” De La Rosa said. “My parents had a farm, so working with the soil and landscape was a big part of my childhood.”

The color of the soil worked as an under painting to many of her paintings, including the color of red Georgia clay.

Many students who attended the reception came to hear her talk and to gather information for a paper assigned by professors in the art department or to earn extra credit.

“We get extra credit for English if we come (view) all the art, and write a paper on what we thought about it.” said attendee Amberleia Henson.

“I really like the repetition,” says art professor Cynthia Brinich-Langlois. “The textures seem to vibrate, all these points of light are floating, things overlapping. The work here is a lot more abstract, it seems to capture that same energy, but through pure forms (rather than) identifiable objects.”

Students gathered around De La Rosa’s paintings attempting to discover some of the methods and styles she used to create the pieces displayed in the exhibit. Sam Cole, Tyler Griffin and Mandy Ellis stood together and studied the painting “Blue with Squares.”

De La Rosa commented on one of the paintings hanging in the gallery titled “Blue With Squares.”

“It’s reflecting on water, and how you look into it, but when you look into it you also see the reflections of the things that are behind you,” de La Rosa said, “So you’re looking in but seeing backwards at the same time. I really enjoy that mesmerizing experience.”

“I like this painting in particular because the other artists use primarily solid colors, individual colors,” said Griffin. “This one (seems) blended. I like the jest of using one color, then paint over that. It looks like a grid.”

“But I think we decided its not a grid though,” said Ellis, “I really see what (she) was trying to portray, with the water.”

The students also noticed some very important details which included the mixture of organic and geometric elements in all the paintings.

Students sat cross-legged with notepads and pencils to hear the talk.

Gallery director Carlos Herrera welcomed students to the artist reception. He announced that there will be two art shows every semester showcasing visiting and student artists.
Courtney Mims served as the event’s curator.

“(Mims) was always very diligent about getting her work done.” Herrera said. “What you see here is a kind of a testament to (that.)”

According to Herrera, the exhibition took a year to prepare. The show was scheduled to take place in September, but Herrera convinced both Mims and De La Rosa to allow it to take place earlier. Mims is the curator of the exhibitions both in Blackbridge Hall and the GCSU museum.

“I really enjoyed working with Frances De La Rosa,” said Mims.
Painting has been De La Rosa’s passion for a long time.
“I am 50 years old, and I started painting when I was 13.” she gives some words of wisdom for aspiring artists.

“Just keep persevering, and painting what seems to be intrinsically connected to you, and truthful expressions,” de La Rosa said. “When you’re confronted by that blank canvas or that blank piece of paper, investigate. Be a detective, dig deep and see what is you, what should be your expression.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 5 2008. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry