UVU Art Department Featured in New Exhibit

The Woodbury Art Museum will be featuring a faculty show as one of its exhibits through December 21.  The free exhibit, featuring projects by the Department of Art & Visual Communications, includes a variety of different art styles including graphic design, illustration, painting and drawing, photography and sculpture and ceramics.

Featuring 60 works on display, there is a lot to see.  My favorite piece of work was an illustration by Catherine Downing titled “Memories of New York.”  The illustration was made with graphite on white canvas.  White and shades of black are the only colors (any artist reading this will probably roll their eyes at that statement, I guess white and black aren’t technically colors right?) used.

“Memories of New York” displays a few log homes and buildings surrounded by trees that appear to have long lost their leaves.  I don’t know exactly what this work is trying to show, though I suppose as art, it’s up to personal interpretation. The cold feelings the use of black and white give me, coupled with the barren trees, matches the transition from fall to winter we have recently experienced.

I love the moody atmosphere this piece is able to project.  As I mentioned earlier, the picture includes a number of buildings, but you are not able to see anyone in the picture.  There is no moon drawn in the sky signaling that it’s night, however, the candlelight glowing from a few of the homes gives the impression that it’s late.  Snow isn’t featured in the picture, but the absence of colors and season the trees point to gives you a feeling that it’s very cold outside.  The ability to set a distinct atmosphere is one of the things I enjoy most about art, and Downing’s “Memories of New York” did just that for me.

I’ve had the chance to visit the Woodbury Art Museum on a few different occasions and the current exhibit is one of the best I’ve seen there.  What I enjoyed most about it is that the art comes from faculty from UVU’s Department of Art & Visual Communications.  As I walked the exhibit, I felt like I got a chance to stare into an area of our school that I’m not very familiar with.

For someone who is a casual appreciator of the arts I enjoyed how the different displays put into perspective the different ways art can communicate to its audience.  The ceramics and sculpture display has a sense of weight and tangibility while I felt the photography works offer an abstract look into real-life images.

There were two other pieces of work that stood out in particular to me because of the medium of art that was used.  One was a short video by Haynes Goodsell, and the other was an abstract written by Courtney R. Davis.  When I think of art exhibits what usually comes to mind is paintings, but it’s variety like these two pieces of work among all the other projects on display that gives this exhibit a great overview of what goes on at UVU’s Department of Art & Visual Communications.  The exhibit is free and has a great location at the University Mall.  For something fun and easy on the wallet, the Woodbury Art Museum is a great local site to check out.