Alise Allen and the little things

Motif (mo-tef): a distinct and recurring form, shape, figure, etc. in a design.

A chain link fence stands, checkering the land.  Gear teeth churn the machine heart to life.  A tree, a plant, a weed nestles the sidewalk in the middle of urbanization, its stems and fronds and leafs a blueprint of natural jigsaw.

Alise Allen is in her closing semester of finishing her Bachelor of Fine Arts this summer.  Over the last four years, she’s taken photos of the undermined significance of the little things that surround the passersby in the street, on the road and throughout the urban clockwork rhythm of construction and industrial progression.  Selections of her art hang in the Orem City Rotunda through the month of January, an artistic opening to the New Year for any visitor.

Though the majority of her pieces exhibit the design scheme in human constructs, such as the diamond patches in a fence, the repeating triangles of a Ferris wheel radiating like refracted light, her work also touches the intricacies of natural creations, such as the enfolded needles of a cactus in the dessert.  “I love the little details,” Allen said.  “The ones that people don’t notice intrigue me.”

All of her still life photos are in black and white, to emphasize the shape aspects of design, the focus of her project.  Allen invites all to come to the rotunda to see her work as well as that of future student exhibits.  “If you like the more industrial focused art, come take a look.”

The Orem City Center Rotunda has exhibited, with the addition of Allen, twelve UVU students’ works so far and shall continue to display new work each month.  The professor in charge of the project is Travis Lovell from the photography department.

By Timothy Eric Wood II – Life Writer