Samantha Smith

Fun with Foam

I was inspired by artist Bill Thompson to work with rigid foam and create and installation piece with a bunch of small organic figures. I wanted to create forms that had no particular meaning behind them but had enough stimulation to keep the viewers' minds active and engaged with the pieces.

Rigid foam coated with polyurethane and paint

5" x 5"

Rigid foam coated with polyurethane and paint

6" x 4" x 2.5"

See above

Rigid foam coated with polyurethane and paint

8.5" x 4.5" x 2.5"

Rigid foam coated with polyurethane and paint

6" x 3.5" x 1.5"

Rigid foam coated with polyurethane and paint

10" x 4.5" x 2.5"

Rigid foam coated with polyurethane and paint

top left: 2.5" x 1" x 1.5" , bottom right: 5.5" x 1.5" x 1.5"

Rigid foam coated with polyurethane and paint

6.5" x 4" x 2"

Ali Ruffner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg7gfhv16Js

Trapped
wood, drywall, screws, viewfinders, paint, sharpies
3'x3'x8'
What is the relationship between viewer and artist while they are making? What happens when parts of a piece are concealed and the viewer is forced to interact with a space they are not comfortable with? What happens to the artists mind when confronted with a small space and the pressure of making? These are the questions I explored in my final sculpture by building a "box" that I was trapped inside for 8+ hours, part of the time being watched by the audience as I let my mind unfold on the inside of the walls. With nothing but your brain to stimulate you and such a small space for making, I became nervously fascinated with the color of the walls and my imagination.

"It is the strangest yellow, that wall-paper! It makes me think of all the yellow things I ever saw – not beautiful ones like buttercups, but old foul, bad yellow things. But there is something else about that paper – the smell! ... The only thing I can think of that it is like is the color of the paper! A yellow smell."

Taylor Schomp

Meticulous Chaos

2015

Wood, thread, twine, wall paint

6'x11'x4'

This captures the act of repeating a meticculous act and moving forward, regardless of what happens.  Though there are varying level of tension in each circle, all of the circles seem to weightlessly float together in a coesive matter.  They appear both delicate and strong, accidental and intentional.

Taylor Schomp

Aftermath

2015

Printer paper, watered-down wall paint

32"x2"x22"

A piece about immediacy.  The paper was grab and placed into a paint splash sink.  Paint was also dripped onto the paper.  This piece shows the effects of dying the string used in other pieces.

Taylor Schomp

Everything Is String

2015

Wood, acrylic paint, thread, screws

3'x4'x1.5"

The product of research into string theory and the numerous definitions of string.  This piece represents a battle of power between an object and the string.  By the edges of piece the string has become the forms themselves.

Wayne Johnson

Trapped

Wood, paint, steel, screws, cheese

3inches x 4feet x 8feet

A playful twist on a necessary but often overlooked household item. Curiosity draws you to reach out and touch it even though your instincts tell you not to.

Wayne Johnson

Just a Blue Square

Wood, paint, screws.

3inches x 6inches x 6inches

Everything is a shape, everything is a pattern, everything can take on it own meaning but in the end it is as it it was in the beginning, just a shape.

Jessica Anton

I Would Hope We Get Along in the End

2015

Mixed media

24"x28"'x12"

Ana Jackson Chaves

Deconstructed Wave II

wood, watercolor paper, gesso, paint, sawdust, wood frames

52" x 46" x 39.25"

2015

This piece expanded upon a sculpture I had made at the beginning of the semester. This was an exercise in building, to see how large I could construct the wave forms while still maintaining structural integrity. Contrasting the sharp geometry of the frame and wooden structure with the wave forms, I used the repetition of form to create a sense of power. Depicting abstracted elements leaping out from picture frames, this piece explores ideas of the unbridled energy of nature.

Rachel Truskolawski

Sacred Head Space

2015

Metal, Wood, Metal Wire, Fishing Wire, Hot Glue, LED Lights, Spray Paint

12" x 26" x 26"


A chandelier inspired piece representative of a sacred space for the mind in which energy and ideas can flow. The geometric shapes are built out of wood and are hung by fishing wire inside of the metal orb structures which are attached together by wire and hot glue. The structure is held by a strand of LED lights which are also intertwined throughout the piece showing the flow of ideas and energy dispersing upwards. Below the structure is my previous work, Interconnected, representing this flow coming out of this head space.

Emily Arnot

Emily Arnot

Sanctuary In Plain Sight

Fall 2015

Installation, wood, wire, plastic

84" x 78" x 72"

In the final installation of my garden, I moved my pieces outside and used the bushes by the outside of the entrance to studio arts. What started as a way to explore the idea of containment, developed into exploring the space and what being in there did to me. It became a strange experience, as people would walk by me and not even notice. Even with the giant wooden structure, passerby's didn't even think to glance over to the space. I began thinking of this idea of containment more as a space of comfort, and added a blanket as a place to get close to the pond and get comfortable in the space. I wanted to intimidating wooden arbor to act as a barrier of the space to the outside, while still allowing a person in the space to observe those who walk by. 

Owen DiRienz

"Transitions"

Plywood, pressure-treated lumber, aluminum

24 x 24 x 42 in

2015

Owen DiRienz

This ramp represents the transition between reality and unreality when I skateboard. It is a functional object which allows gravity to become an obstacle all its own. I juxtaposed my piece with a distorted video of myself using the ramp. The visual effects were added to give the viewer a sense of the heightened mental state I experience while on board. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc455Gt4tYw

Emily Arnot

Emily Arnot

Swimmingly

Fall 2015

plastic, Apoxy Sculpt, found objects

48" x 10" x 48"

This installation was to continue exploring the human tendency to keep natural, living things contained to please us visually. I wanted to add to my garden, and emphasis the idea of living creatures just being kept basically as objects. I used the idea of fish and a fish pond, and to make this connection between the "lifelessness" of these contained fish, I created bones instead. The idea is to keep adding onto and expanding my garden.