This year I had all the BFA seniors in my ART 410 class to help coordinate the BFA exhibits. There's a lot to do leading up to the installation and the actual installation and un-installation of the exhibit is pretty much a whole semester of work in itself, so we decided to try to have all the seniors in one class this time. This allowed me to have everyone on the same page through the semester as they completed the work for their exhibits, prepared artist statements and turned in contracts and marketing materials. Almost none of that was photo worthy so let's skip right to the fun stuff.
Each BFA student has their own solo exhibit of artwork before they graduate. Like last year, we were able to coordinate with The Arts Center of Greenwood to use their exhibition spaces. Each student had their own space in which to create their own exhibit. Students planned their exhibits down to the last detail and as the install date approached and stress levels peaked, my job switched from taskmaster to assistant (and part-time therapist). Students who needed help with transportation met me at the Sculpture loading dock on the morning of the install.
We are not much on rational actions in sculpture. Pretty much everything Victor planned was ridiculous and bordering on impossible. He was encouraged to do it anyway. One of his sculptures took up my whole trailer.
Tien also had an outrageous idea and I loved it. I lost count of the crazy number of individual sculptures she planned to create, but she filled an entire room with her sculptural installation. The ones above were simply the ones that were too big to fit in her SUV.
Victor was encouraged to bring an entourage to assist him with the impossible. Taylor and Ryan came to help.
Brianna got to be "that person". You know, the one who cruises in with some 2D work that fits nicely on a wall? Yeah, she was nice enough to take her time in deciding about the arrangement of her photos and paintings, but she popped some things on the wall and peaced-out on us. We were all envious.
Jordon had a pretty good idea of how she wanted to install her work, but once she got in the space with the work, she considered every aspect of how she wanted the details. Hanging things from the very high ceiling was also going to be a challenge. Once she had it figured out, she just needed to wait on me to figure out how to get up high.
Meanwhile, Tien gathered some help with her transformation. Michael, Oliver and Haley all spent some time hanging paper flowers from the lower ceiling in her room.
Caretaker John, who I'm almost certain is an actual ghost, led me up to the attic of the 1910 (I think) building and through a maze of ladders and catwalks to the balcony door to hang Jordon's work. "Oh by the way" he said before seriously disappearing, "That ladder in the center leads up to the cupola."
I wasn't nearly as stressed as the students, so I took my time heading back. I climbed the ladder to the trap door and exited through another tiny door before finding myself outside mingling with the cupola.
Soon I was back downstairs assisting again. Jordon had her work hung quickly and began thinking about how she wanted to add her crochet work to secure everything.
While Tien continued to hang flowers and fill her room, Victor had brought in all of his easy stuff and it was now time to assemble Charlotte, the 12 foot tall sculpture he created in 4 separate components. We used Victor's team of helpers and also stole Michael from Tien. The very precarious sculpture was assembled and raised to life. The victory was short lived though, as we realized Charlotte did not want to stand up on her own. Victor quickly devised a plan to sturdy Charlotte and he raced back to the sculpture studio to create a device to help.
Chanel worked to finish her pieces in the studio and several trips were made shuttling work from school to the Arts Center. Bek was quietly working in the back hanging her gorgeous paintings and arranging red yarn precisely. Victor worked intensely trying not to seem frazzled. Charlotte spent this time lying on her side before finally being raised again. Slowly, we all let go and she stood on her own. We celebrated.
Tien was still hanging flowers and trying new arrangements of her work in the space. Her room was transformed.
Chanel's pieces were getting set up and we had to pull out the BIG ladder for one of them.
Victor's parents arrived to help in time to stand Charlotte up and it was fun to see how proud they were. At this point Jordon was asleep in the floor after only having about 2 hours of sleep over the last few days. Bek was all set up except for her ceramic sculptures that were still cooling in the kilns. Chanel was still attaching yarn and Tien was still filling her room. We are certain Brianna was napping by a pool with boat drinks.
The next day, those who were not completely finish gathered again to briefly put the final touches on their exhibits. Victor also showed up to check on Charlotte, who seemed to have shifted a bit overnight. Odd. However, the work was finished and everything was ready to open on Monday morning at 10:00 am. They did it.
We gathered for the official opening of the show to the public and took a few marketing photos. I forgot to mention that I planned to photo the students until about an hour before we met but look how great they look. They clean up nice, huh?
They were excited and relieved. Most had slept now and everyone seemed relaxed except Victor who immediately wondered if Charlotte had shifted even more during the previous night. Impossible, right? Let's ignore it and move on.
So we took photos and checked all the minor details instead. Bek posed with her portraits.
Chanel posed with her tufted wall-hanging sculpture.
Brianna posed with her work, which featured nudity. Can we show nudity in the Arts Center? We all assumed so until we got really close to install day and Brianna finally asked. Luckily for us all, the answer was yes. I should have considered that question much earlier.
Victor put away his growing anxiety about Charlotte's shifting and posed for some photos.
Jordon posed with her powerful work and her very blue Crocs.
And Tien's room was complete. She was happy and proud but she was also a bit anxious about her family coming to see her exhibit. Her show was about her family and their transition from Vietnam to America. They were all planning to attend the reception to see the work for the first time.
Monday passed. Tuesday arrived. Victor texted me another photo of Charlotte leaning pretty hard to one side. We just needed another few days from her. Maybe she would hang in there.
She did not hang in there. This photo was texted to me just after 10:00 am on Wednesday. Charlotte took a fall in the night. Disaster.
I forwarded the photo to Victor and started walking to my car. We pulled up at the Arts Center at the same time. Charlotte's neck/leg snapped from the shifting weight and she took a dive to the floor. Victor had arranged all of his work around Charlotte so that if she fell, she wouldn't do a lot of damage. She scrubbed the pedestal under her but otherwise there was no damage to the show. We assessed the damage to Charlotte, developed a fast plan, and headed back to the studio. My plans for a nap flew out the window as we knew that this needed to be addressed immediately and would take some time. We needed to secure Charlotte and make sure she wouldn't fall on anyone during the reception. We still needed a couple more days out of her.
We found the exact parts we needed and I assembled an ambulance box of supplies while Victor made some changes to his stand and assembled another crew of helpers. Hope, Samii, and Kelsey all arrived as we prepared to see if Charlotte was ever going to stand again.
The "skin" Victor devised to cover Charlotte's armature was a crazy collection of Liquid Nails, plastic wrap, caulk and almost any other thing he thought of while making her. Of course, none of this should have worked, but aside from the fall, it was all working. A crucial steel splint was created, inserted and capped off with a Super Mario band aid created out of duct tape.
Charlotte was once again vertical. Well, mostly vertical. She had a slightly different lean now that made her seem even more prone to falling. To be stable, she needed just the slightest amount of pressure applied to her head.
While I made preparations to secure Charlotte so that Kelsey didn't need to stand beside her for the next three days and nights, Victor began repairing all of the cracks and tears that occurred during the fall.
The patches would need time to dry completely before they could be painted so Charlotte was going to have to spend the day in a slightly unfinished state. I grabbed the ladder and scurried around, heading into the attic once again to make sure that Charlotte was secured with some extra help from above.
Soon everyone let go again and Charlotte was on her own. She stood proudly and more secure than ever. Victor made some last patches before we finally got a very late lunch to celebrate.
Thursday evening arrived and the reception began. As viewers filled the space there was an excitement in the air. The artwork was exceptional and as the artists shared their work with family and friends it was a really great thing to experience. There was relief for sure, but also there was pride. They had made it to the final days of this long journey. They had summited the mountain and now the trip back down would be much easier.
Tien's family arrived and I noted the look of pride on the faces of her parents. I grabbed this photo of each family member posing with the sculpture that Tien created to represent them. Pretty sure I saw some people crying at this moment. Bek's family stared proudly at super-realistic portraits of themselves and surely felt the love in each brushstroke. Brianna's crew glowed in the light of her figures. Chanel had to settle for a substitute dad moment but her friends were there to be her family and to be proud of her. Jordon's family came and experienced what must have been a powerful moment of taking in the work and reading her artist statement. Victor's parents stepped back and watched it all, smiling, laughing and taking it all in. I took a cue from them and did the same.
After introducing them to their viewers, I snagged this photo of the students while Laura took their official photos. I met each of these students when they arrived at Lander, most of them 4 whole years ago. I taught 5 of them in their freshman year and most of the semesters following. I've slogged with them, traveled to the beach with them, given them hard words and provided some encouragement. This was a nice moment.
But it wasn't the end. The next morning we gathered at 9:00 am to begin the individual BFA Final Reviews. Each student presented their exhibit to the BFA committee and was given feedback. At 11:30 am the final words were spoken and the exhibit ended. Within two hours the entire gallery was empty. Nothing on the walls, nothing suspended from the ceiling and nothing on the floors. A couple of trailer loads and a few car loads later, it was all over.
No comments:
Post a Comment