Pulse of diversity displayed in SE exhibit of local artists
by Amanda Leduc
se news editor

A diversity of mediums and concepts fills the halls on SE Campus this month.

Local artists displayed in PULSE explore a broad range of materials and processes from realistic painting to viewer-interactive works.

“ There was not a preconceived thematic connection between the works in the exhibition other than their contemporary freshness,” John Frost, the SE Art Corridor II curator, said.

David Green, a multi-media artist, contributed two pieces of his recent body of work Randomly Accessed Memories. His works reflect his musings of growing up in a rural, lower class, Christian home in the South.

His piece, Prince of the Power of the Air, is a painting of one of his sculptures. Green said putting the sculpture’s image down on canvas expands the audience.

The title of the piece was inspired by Paul’s New Testament reference to Satan as “the prince of the powers of the air,” Green said.

However, the sculpture had more to do with sentimental attachments to each item in the piece, which is not so easily shared with the audience, Green said.

“ What was important was the technique and skill involved in making the painting more than the meaning. I wanted to make a beautiful piece,” he said.

Another artist, Clarissa Mapes, was excited to share her re-designs of the ugly and humiliating.

Mapes series, If Mums Were Beautiful, celebrates her idols.

“ If you could re-design your past, make it in your own image, impart upon your personal iconography what you know now, make beautiful the blemishes of puberty, then things like your high school homecoming mum would become attractive,” she said in an artist statement.

Mapes said we could then champion unlikely heroes like blue-collar dads and ugly ducklings.

Two of Mapes pieces were included in the exhibit, Mum for Dad and Swan as a Mascot.

The exhibit runs through April.

Last Updated: 4/21/2004
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