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Even in the bustle of homecoming weekend where sports and beer are king, art is still alive and well. The Lord Hall Faculty Art Exhibition, which runs until Nov. 13, is a calm and relaxing showcase of the work of the University of Maine’s talented faculty artists. Works range from photographs to sculptures. There are digital works displayed on flat-screen televisions and pieces dangling from the ceiling.
The pieces burst off the serene white walls. The beautifully framed, mounted and carefully displayed works shimmer in the fall sunlight spilling in from the large windows.
“I think it’s usually a really interesting exhibition,” said Laurie Hicks, professor of art and curator of the Lord Hall Gallery. “This year it’s a really quiet exhibition. I don’t mean sound — I mean in terms of the experience of it. It’s calmer and more spread out.”
The works are all done by university faculty, though not every art faculty member is represented in the exhibit. According to Hicks, artists select one to five pieces to put in the exhibit, depending on their size. Artists are urged to display new works or works that have never been seen before.
“Mostly artists work in a particular medium, or at least within a range of particular mediums,” Hicks said. She gave the example of art department chair Susan Groce, who is primarily a printmaker, showcasing some of her drawings at this exhibit.
The gallery is nonprofit so works cannot be sold directly from the gallery, but ome artists will still sell their pieces on their own, according to Hicks.
Hicks works with gallery coordinator Majo Keleshian to select the pieces for the exhibit and organize them. Organization can be a tricky job, especially when working around pieces like assistant art professor Susan Camp’s plastic gourd molds, which lay on the floor.
“[I have to ask myself] where do I put these so that people looking at paintings don’t back up and step into them?” Hicks said.
The gourd display is particularly striking. Colored a pale off-white and grouped into piles, the gourd molds look more like giant seashells at first glance. Camp grows the gourds herself and uses them as molds to create soft, rubbery works on display.
“She creates, often times, these very intriguing representations of everyday forms put together in ways that aren’t usual,” Hicks said. “I find them both extremely interesting and appealing and really disturbing at the same time. You get that nice conflict.”
Prof. Andy Mauery, a sculptor who often works with fiber, is displaying a sculpture made from a violin bow. The silky strands almost disappear against the white walls — a problem Hicks said she had to address for another exhibition when Mauery displayed a similar piece.
“I finally had to put a pedestal under it, because people kept walking into it because it really disappears into space,” Hicks said.
According to Hicks, the annual event gets hundreds of visitors — a blend of students and community members. Many art students will come through with classes to see the pinnacle of artistic achievement at UMaine.
Hicks said the department tries to stress an attitude that students “can’t do this stuff until you can do this stuff,” meaning they must first master the basics before expanding their horizons.
Many of the artworks push the boundaries of what can be called art. Owen Smith, the new media chair and director of the interdisciplinary master of fine arts program, is displaying a couple of bizarre works.
One piece is based around the concept of collective memory — just a simple plaque dedicated to the remembrance of a soldier who died in Iraq. Another is an antique shovel juxtaposed against a TV screen displaying a snowy driveway.
With such diversity contained in one small exhibit, many pieces play off one another. The contrast of traditional art with contemporary makes the entire exhibit a work of art itself. One can see gigantic, lifelike paintings of flowers on one wall and beyond the next, old seats from the renovations to Collins Center for the Arts that have been turned into what Hicks described as functional pieces of art.
There are three video pieces in the exhibit, creating a fascinating disparity when displayed next to the still photographs and other works. Sound is utilized by some of the works, mainly through the use of headphones.
According to Hicks, there are plans to change the exhibit slightly next fall, but he did not mention any specifics.
The exhibit is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
