On Ideas at the Senior Expo v1.0

On Ideas at the Senior Expo v1.0

Tidal Exhibition 2005
The Art Place @ Mountain View
October 13-November 11, 2005

When one walks into The Art Place and glimpses at the first installment of this year's Senior
Show, one feels a total loss. Some works, but even fewer students, stand out. Some are exquisitely beautiful, perfectly defining originality, skill, and imagination. Others look like they were done by the summer camp classes down the hall. The strength of the very few don't even begin to support the remaining work. Filled with mundane and hackneyed paintings and photographs along with sophomoric design pieces, few artists stand out. Kenneth Adams' pieces are stellar, in point Falling Forward, an amazingly simple yet stunning piece of brilliance. Phillip Steadham's powerful and image-laden series of paintings and relief provided the much-needed eye-candy of the show. And Norse Dragon, Morgan Stallings' sculpture piece. Much of the photo work, seems generic and trite. Some even look like mistakes. The compositions are unappealing, clichéd, or blurry. Not blurry-with-the-artistic-purpose-of-enhancing-the-image-with-a-particular-feel blurry, just an indistinct blur. The graphic design pieces are incredibly stale. They seem forced, like they tried too hard, and failed. As a whole, everything lacks originality.

And that's the overwhelming failing trait prevailing amongst the majority of the work here.

Originality.

The unique ideas of concept.

Conceptualization isn't a skill that can be honed in lower division classes - classes that are filled
with still-life's, figure drawings, and book assignments. So the focus should fall on upper division criteria. There needs to exist conceptualization classes, one for every field of study. Classes that will explore the students inner soul, expand on their talents, and transform them into Artists. Still, undergraduate requirements also need to be reexamined. Advisors (and professors) need to be honest with students - some of us taking up class space in this building are just not meant to be here. Maybe a stricter entry policy or even a practical portfolio class would help. Or the realization that just because one got an 'A' on an assignment doesn't mean it's portfolio worthy. Because most of the work displayed here is not professional, but rather looks like a class assignment. There is no imagination here. There is no evidence of students pushing boundaries or even just exploring their own limits.

If this reflects Kennesaw's Visual Art Department's highest achievement, it is certainly not
something to be proud of.




-s.t.