Faculty Show at the Woodbury

Aug. 21 through Sept. 22, the Woodbury Art Museum at the University Mall in Orem will host the UVU Department of Art and Visual Communication Faculty Show. This event will feature many of the talents and skills of UVU art faculty.

According to Melissa Hempel, Interim Director/Curator of The Woodbury Art Museum, the Faculty Show has been touring in the public for a while. But for the past two years, University Mall in Orem has been accommodating the Faculty Show.

“We are very excited to have the exhibition here,” Hempel said. “This is an excellent way for students to better appreciate and understand those who are teaching them.”

According to Marcus Vincent, Associate Professor of Painting and Drawing, artists need to let the creator of each piece of art lead spectators into and through their journey.

“The most beneficial thing you can do when attending an event like this is to have an open mind,” Vincent said. “Go into the museum without any preconceived ideas, so that you can feel through the individual pieces of art, like you would with music.”

As curator, Hempel has had the privilege of overseeing the arrangement of the art pieces in the museum. In doing so, she has set up each genre and medium in different galleries with her own rare touch or flare.

“I don’t feel that I’m an artist, per se, but in some ways, I am,” Hempel said. “I place the pieces together by colors and themes that play off each other and are pleasing to the eye.”

To better help attendees, catalogs are placed upon walls between galleries. There are also extended panels next to paintings that describe thoughts and feelings of the artists for each particular work of art.

“We really want people to get caught up in works of art, as individuals and as groups,” Hempel said. “We want people to leave with feelings that they hadn’t anticipated.”

Students can learn techniques and facts in school, but this is a way for UVU’s art faculty to teach us passion at a higher level. This is an opportunity for attendees to come with an open mind and see the passion of others, not only to enjoy, but also to find inspiration and uplift into a journey through a higher realm of feeling and appreciation.