Art faculty exhibit opens

In her artist’s statement, Bentz said her photographs and prints reflect the external and the internal worlds that all inhabit and the juncture between the two that exists without words.

“The photographs and relief prints may seem incongruent, not a cohesive body of work, but they are. They are distillations—the photographs capture moments in time, just before change; the relief prints suggest the shifting layers between what is tangible and intangible in the fluidity of change,” Bentz said.

Donahue’s statement said she makes art to make sense of the world.

“The more years that go by, the less the world makes sense to me. I found myself experimenting in the new medium of Earth art using natural materials outside. Art that is not meant to be permanent and will fade with time. It became about the process—of gathering pine cones, looking for large dead tree branches, picking up rocks, putting down rocks,” Donahue said.

She said Earth art became a way to collaborate with others and to be in the natural environment.

“For so many, the last few years have been fraught with difficulty and turmoil. I sought refuge in the faith, hope, and love of those things close to me: faith and the spirit and mystery of the universe, the hope and wonder that I find in the natural world, and the young people I work with, and the love of family and friends,” Donahue said.

Denham, in her artist’s statement, said her experimental work explores traditionally utilitarian ceramics, sculptural ceramics, and fiber art.

“The sculptural ceramics and fiber art sculpture examine the concepts of comfort, abnormal cellular development, inflammation of the human body, and mending. In the ceramic forms, the clay form represents the human body or the cellular structure within the body,” Denham said.

Each structure in Denham’s sculpture, One by One They Fell, is bound with yarn.

“Binding can be a form of protection and restriction. It is repeated over and over, compulsively attempting to keep the forms together,” Denham said.

Denham said she is trying a new technique of breaking ceramic pieces and then sewing them back together.

“Focusing on how the body mends itself, the act of surgery, and then the reconstruction. In a sense, this is a form of visible mending. I am using the clay vessel as a metaphor for the body. It is broken and sutured in an attempt to regain the previous form,” Denham said.

Gimeson said he hopes the viewer will reflect on his work and take inspiration to create their own visual images.

“If I could describe this work in words there would be no need to draw, paint, or photograph. Sometimes I paint to reveal the world as I see it in my mind; I draw to make statements; I photograph to capture a moment that is fleeting. In these moments of creating images, I am still and at rest,” Gimeson said.

—Tena L. Cook, Marketing Coordinator