At juried art show, student art across mediums, experience levels

Michael Todd
Staff Writer

 

Leah Paschal, an AFO student, drew the portrait "Army Veteran" in 20 hours.

Tonight will mark the opening reception of the annual Juried Student Fine Arts Exhibition at the Anderson Gallery.

Undergraduate students from all departments were invited to submit their strongest and most mature work to the undergraduate show, with all media eligible.

Each year, a different guest curator is invited to select pieces for the show. This year the responsibility fell to Tina Kukielski, previous senior curatorial assistant at the Whitney Museum of American Art (WMAA) in New York and current co-curator of the 2013 Carnegie International, an international survey of contemporary art.

Of the approximately 80 students accepted into the undergraduate show, Leah Paschal and Michaela Amato were two of five art foundation (AFO) majors to make the cut.

“I’m more surprised than anything else, I think,” Amato said. “I’ve never shown my work anywhere except for the confines of a classroom, so … I’m very excited and very surprised.”

Amato’s charcoal self-portrait “Grandma’s Lace” is the result of a “Reveal/Conceal” assignment completed during the fall semester under instructor Ryan Laterio.

“I’m still kind of sorting out in my own mind how I figure out if I like something or not,” Amato said of her opinions surrounding other accepted works. “I tend not to have a strong opinion on something because I’m a new artist – I don’t even know if you can call me that. I’m new to art. I don’t feel comfortable saying what’s good and what’s not. Everything I saw (submitted to the show) looked amazing.”

Paschal was perhaps even more caught off guard by her acceptance, which she heard by word of mouth from a couple of friends while walking home.

“I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’” Paschal said of her reaction to the various “congratulations!” she received. “I thought they were being (expletive)s and were gonna say something mean like, ‘Your bike got stolen.’”

Paschal’s graphite portrait “Army Veteran,” one of two works that were accepted into the show, is the product of exactly 20 hours of drawing – no more, no less.

Kinetic imaging junior Aissatou Barry returns for a second year after previously featuring a sound piece in last year’s undergraduate show. Barry received the juror’s choice award for her video “Wake Up Call,” which features the “rhythmic struggle of a young lady refusing to get out of bed despite her alarm clock.”

“VCUarts is full of talented students,” Barry said. “I do not doubt that the pieces, whether they made it into the show or not, are wonderful and inspiring. … Even if you have doubts about your work, it is always good to submit something.”

An international student hailing from China, sophomore graphic design major Yanci Wu received the Dean’s Award for her two-and-a-half minute stop-motion animation, “China Doll.”

With characters and settings crafted entirely by Wu’s hand, the animation celebrates the traditional Chinese New Year and is thus meant to be a lighthearted and playful piece. Wu’s process, as with any stop motion animation, involved the manipulation of her characters by hand and the documenting of the process through thousands of images, which comprise the final short film.

“When I was in AFO, I submitted some of my favorite works, but none of them got in. I was disappointed, so this time I didn’t expect anything,” Wu said. “I didn’t plan to submit any work (this year). I submitted my pieces five minutes (before the deadline).”  CT

Tonight’s opening reception will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. The undergraduate show will be on view at the Anderson Gallery from March 19 to April 15. Viewing hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesdays through Fridays, noon to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, with the gallery closed on Mondays.

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