Faculty members showcase artwork at 'Hybrid II' exhibit

02/12/09 - Seven University of Rhode Island professors have artwork on display in the Main Gallery of the Fine Arts Center as part of the faculty exhibit entitled "Hybrid II." The artists include professors Ben Anderson, Jeff Bertwell, Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, Barbara Pagh, Kim Salerno, Lilla Samson and Kimberly-Blue Wade.

Upon entering the gallery, the first artistic piece easily visible is by artist Jeff Bertwell, titled "Beavertail Progression A, B, + C." With pastels, charcoal and graphite, Bertwell drew on Korean handmade paper. The first of his drawings is a unique palette of pink, blue, yellow and purple hues amidst a blended black figure. His other two pieces can be viewed once inside the whitewashed room.

Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, an associate professor of art at URI, had three digital works on display. Her exhibit showcased animations from still photos that seemed to pop out at the viewer.

"The past and present appear here in the same virtual space," Matthew said in a written statement. "These animations weave in and out of spaces of time, allowing the view to simultaneously ponder the history, future and aging of the subjects."

Matthew's exhibit was funded by the MacColl Johnson Fellowship from the Rhode Island Foundation, as well as the university.

The third exhibit was a series of black and white charcoal and pastel drawings of marine creatures by artist Lilla Samson. Samson's six-piece collection is composed of five drawings and one 3-D piece, which are hung from the ceiling above a pedestal, mapping a nautical chart. Samson used the method of shibori, a Japanese technique of dying cloth, to dye polyester and silk. The five other life-like pieces depict the organisms Asterias rubens (the Common Starfish), Dinophysis norvegica (a planktonic dinoflagellate linked to Diarrhetic Shellfish Poisoning, (DSP), Thalassiosira nordenskioeldii, Ornithocercus magnificus and Semibalanus balanoides (an acorn barnacle).

In the middle of the art gallery, the exhibit of assistant art professor Ben Anderson is displayed. Using stoneware, bronze, pine, earthenware and paper, Anderson created a three-dimensional work of art with naturesque similarities located on different elevations on a wooden platform.

"Much of my work is derived from my personal encounters with nature," Anderson said. "My interests do not lay in direct representation but are more concerned with the forces of energy passing through a rich natural environment."

The fifth exhibit was a computer-animated person that viewers control by selecting different words, phrases or actions.

URI art professor Barbara Pagh designed 10 hanging handmade paper segments with gray and white canoe-shaped objects beneath them in her exhibit, "Journey."

The seventh artist was Kim Salerno, whose art exhibit is titled "Fragments from Big Miniature: Moving Through a Picture of a Room."

"It allows viewers to physically move through a 2-D space," said Salerno in her exhibition summary.

Salerno utilized materials such as latex paint, wood, acrylic sheets, foam, paper and tape to create her creative piece.

"The collage comes animated, not as a representation of a room, but as a dynamic decorated space that conflates real and imagined places," she said.

The Pollack-Krasner Foundation funded her project.

For Chris Murphy, a senior majoring in Studio Art, this URI faculty art exhibition was an eye-opening experience.

"After being here for four years and coming to more and more faculty art shows, I got to know my professors in a different way than I could in class," Murphy said. "To see their work really enables the students to know where they're coming from when they give criticism...it's a lot easier to go up to them and start a conversation."

The Hybrid II URI faculty art exhibit will be open for the public until Feb. 24. The gallery, located on the Kingston campus, is open for viewing Monday through Thursday from noon to 4 p.m., and on Saturdays from noon until 4 p.m. Admission is free.