For insight into the development and successes of St. John’s Fine Arts department, look no further than their 2006 Annual Student Art Exhibition, located in Dr. M. T. Geoffrey Yeh Art Gallery in Sun Yat Sen Hall. This Wednesday’s opening reception, which featured an awards ceremony and thesis projects from three St. John’s seniors, unveiled an impressive display of invigorating and vibrant contemporary artwork.
“This event is a celebration of the hard work and dedication of our students over the 2005-2006 academic year,” said Professor Paul Fabbozzi, Chairperson of the Department of Fine Arts. “The quality of the works on display is a manifestation of visual principles, experimentation, intellect and a developed visual sensibility.
Leading the pack at this year’s event was Eirene Jacobs, a senior Fine Arts major who presented a three dimensional sculpture as part of her thesis project, and a sculpture of dampened, wounded toilet paper humorously labeled “I shot the Charmin.”
“I wet these pieces of toilet paper,” Jacobs explained. “I had to saturate them all the way through so there was enough density to shoot them so they wouldn’t erupt. I shot them with different calibers of bullets and then I dried them in an oven.
“I actually shot those, yep.”
Jacobs won two awards at this year’s exhibit, including “Best in 3D” for her toiletry gunmanship, and “Best in show” for a structure entitled “Day.”
Her lineup of victimized toilet paper rolls is part of Jacobs’ gun series which includes “Day,” a structure made of wood and fabric inked with light red prints depicting the bottoms of bullet cartridges.
“As I was building it,” Jacobs explained, “because it is white and red and has a very Japanese, oriental feel, I thought, ‘what an interesting insight – there’s this beautiful serene thing but underneath it is violence.'”
Also winning awards was freshman Graphic Design major Tim Olwell for his “Time Flies,” a striking print of flies and clocks swirling around and next to a colorful outline of an old man’s face.
Tiffany Chen’s illustration entitled “Ariel Sharon,” Melissa Alba’s two-dimensional oil “Standing model,” Amanda De Jesus’ photographic series “Joey,” and Kim Maharaj’s mixed media piece entitled “Symbolic Words” all took home best-in-show awards for their respective categories.
The exhibit may be viewed Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday noon to 5 p.m. from Wednesday, May 10 until Tuesday, August 8.
