Open ended art

Stories with open ended narratives reflect the realities of life when they are often unfinished or still in the process of being written. Second year Visual Arts students have been reflecting on this subject for some time now, creating art that captures the language of their own stories, and they are now ready to share it with the public.

"Open Ended," an exhibition of one-of-kind books from young artists at Brock will be hosting an opening reception at the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) Infoshop downtown St. Catharines on March 6 from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. The exhibit will be showcased from March 6 until March 20.

The theme "Open Ended," showcases student's ability to express themes on language through visual art accompanied by other familiar mediums.

Dana Pay, a second-year Visual Arts major, normally uses charcoal and graphite as her chosen medium and included this in her art piece. Her project is a cross between a sculpture and a drawing.

"I wanted to make a connection between something that is industrial and something natural […] It's about control and feeling caged, I wanted to show the contrast between the two," said Pay.

The second-year drawing class instructed by Judy Graham is excited to show off their projects while finishing up on a few details. Graham has been instructing in Visual Arts since 1997.

 "The most exciting thing for me is when I see students beginning to take risks with their own ideas to come up with something that's completely original," Graham said.

Another art piece explores grammar, and is made by Teresa Neamtz, a Concurrent Education student majoring in Visual Arts as well as History.

"The art program pushes you to do things like large scale really messy charcoal drawings," Neamtz said.

Neamtz typically creates art in fine detail and expresses this with her project that pairs images up with unrelated playful words. Although students are encouraged to fine tune their existing talents, they are also encouraged to develop other skills. Neamtz expresses interest in artists like Mark Rothko whose colour field paintings are abstract, bright and broad, and she wishes to develop similar painting skills that would be beneficial to her as an artist.

Emma German, second-year Visual Arts major, also draws on her interest in contemporary styles of art that are non-traditional and installation-like.

 "This is my first projects and I based it on a specific personal experience. I usually like to make it less obvious […] I think it was significant when making the work so I think it was a new experience for me to open up more with this project," said German.

German enjoys experimenting with other mediums, understanding her likes and dislikes and getting together with other students to collaborate. Each year brings a new theme and experience for German and other students who are as passionate and can understand that their experiences will continue changing positively as they grow as artists.