Faculty Art Exhibition

The Art Gallery located on the second floor of Harrigan Hall is currently showing a Faculty Art Exhibition. From sculptures to ceramics, and photography to paintings—all artwork displayed were created by faculty of Andrews University. The exhibition had its opening on February 13, 2023 and will continue until March 24, 2023. I highly encourage students to browse through the gallery and see what the faculty have created and chosen to display for the AU campus to enjoy.

Here is the list of faculty featured.

Daniel Weber (Assistant Professor of Photography)
Medium: Photography

Dave Sherwin (Assistant Professor of Photography)
Medium: Photography

Diane Myers (Associate Professor of Graphic Design)
Medium: Digital Art

Zech Ray (Adjunct Professor of Art)
Medium: Painting

Rhonda Root (Assistant Dean of College of Arts & Sciences, Professor of Architecture & Interior Design)
Medium: Oil on Canvas

Herb Helm (Professor of Psychology)
Medium: Watercolor

Greg Constantine, (Professor Emeritus, Visual Arts, Communication & Design)
Medium: Ceramics

Brooks Bouwkamp (Studio Manager of Ceramics)
Medium: Ceramics

Alyx Halsey (Assistant Professor of Ceramics)
Medium: Ceramics

Doug Taylor (Assistant Professor of Graphic Design)
Medium: Mixed-media

Stephanie Elkins-Bates (Associate Professor of Art History)
Medium: Ink technical pen on vellum

I spoke with Alyx Halsey, the staff member in charge of curating the exhibition. I wanted to gain some insight into the process and ideas that went into setting up and displaying the faculty exhibition. I found out that each piece was intentionally placed. Pieces were displayed in ways that were sure to catch the viewer's eye from the hallway and direct people through the gallery in ways that made visual sense. She chose to pair works together that complemented one another or created a narrative or dialogue. I think her intentions were fulfilled as the bright colors of the pieces closest to the entrance of the exhibit really drew me into the gallery. As you step on into the gallery, one piece after the next continues to draw you to them. The variation of artwork is immense so students have much to look forward to.

The piece that really stood out to me upon walking through the exhibit was the wall of framed portraits of dogs. But not just any dog. Pit Bulls. The artist behind this work is Diane Myers, an Associate Professor of Graphic Design. As a lover of big dogs, I found her work to be quite moving and held an important message to society. I asked Professor Myers about her work and here is what she had to say.

What is your medium of art in which you express your work?
As a graphic designer, I have a lot of different mediums I like to work in, but for this piece I chose digital to combine the text and image supplied by the dogs owners. I had to work with a special printer in New York that is able to do the lenticular printing I wanted for the final piece. I’ve never done this type of printing before, but the printer was great to work with and even printed a few smaller test prints for me before I submitted all of the final pieces. I’ve always been drawn to letters and type, so a lot of my personal work incorporates type in some way.

What inspired you to create this piece?
Curiosity! I was hearing a lot in the media about the Michael Vick dogfighting investigation and I personally didn’t know any Pit Bull type dogs, so I started doing research on the breed. I was in grad school at the time so I spent months reading up on the breed's history and how much the perception and misinformation had changed over the years. When I found out that not too long ago, these dogs were once considered “America’s Dog” I knew I wanted to try to show that in my work by having one dog represent each state. I needed input from owners, so my project turned into a collaborative piece, where I first had to find owners in each state, then convince them to participate in my project and send me an image and word!

I was overwhelmed and inspired by the responses—I got thousands—as owners shared so many amazing stories of their beloved dogs. Many were rescued from bad situations, now thriving and living in loving homes. So many owners thanked me for doing this project, and even if their dog didn’t get chosen to represent their state, they were still glad they could share their story, and I read every single entry!  I still followed the Michael Vick dogs, which were evaluated individually and most went on to become therapy dogs, work in schools with children, and just get to live out the rest of their lives as a normal dog.

What memorable responses have you had to your work?
My work was part of a group show in Massachusetts along with other artists in a gallery in a community center. The curator told me a little girl was walking by, saw my work on the wall, and immediately ran up to see it closer. She quickly ran out of the gallery, got her parents, and dragged them in to share it with them. This warmed my heart, as I was hoping this work would be approachable to all ages and while these dogs are big and not for every family, hopefully I could educate a bit and have people see these dogs without the stigma often attached to them. The feedback from the curator solidified my hope, and I enjoyed hearing how others interacted with and enjoyed the piece as well.

Take the opportunity to go check out the exhibition and support our AU faculty in their creative work. Perhaps even tell them what you thought and encourage them to continue creating and sharing their work.