At the Dedo Art Gallery in Valdosta, the Senior Exhibition for the Valdosta State Seniors of the Fine Arts Bachelor Program had there Grand Finale. The Coup De Gras, the seniors held their exhibition, for the faculty of the Fine Arts program to show the accomplishments of their journey during the time spent as a student at Valdosta State. The show was to represent the skills developed and how they have grown as artist, but moreover as people. The students showed a variety of skills ranging from drawing to sculpture. The show was nothing short of fascinating to the viewer’s eye, as the viewers were able to witness a broad range of skill and artworks. The gallery was structured well, along with easy access to the artists in the show to ask questions, and the overall gallery had many successful artworks.
Throughout the gallery, there were many artist with a multitude of artworks by each person. The gallery was set up very well, allowing for the viewer to go based on size and subject matter. The artist do not have all of the works they presented together, but are spread out, but the spacing helps to give balance for the eyes. The works hung from the walls and stood on pedestals, allowing to viers to be able to walk around and be entertained at every corner. It is almost like the gallery had significant form, allowing the gallery to appeal to the eyes, not giving way to boredom.
A strength of the gallery was the ability to be able meet with the artist, and converse over the works to be able to gain understanding of their works and contributions within the gallery. During this meeting, I met with Caitlin Sanders, and conversed over her works. She predominantly worked with encaustic paintings and sculpture, as she works from emotions and from a repeated shapes, drawing on her experiences from being younger. She states, “Patterns repeated shapes, textures and exciting colors play a majority role throughout my designs”, which backs that she constantly looks for the design aspects such as the ones stated above.Encaustic Painting is done by using beeswax with pigment added to create color then applied to the prepared surface. Sanders had Encaustic Paintings, all three labeled Encaustic 1, 2 or, 3, were based on the the flow of paint, over the organic like shapes. Caitlin stated, “It is not about the shapes, but the flow of the paint, which showed the emotion, and conveyed the thoughts”. It is to allow the emotion to escape and be free. The color choices were ones such as blues and greens. The blues representing the sadness that she feels that all artist deal with. The blues being her favorite colors to work with. She also used a green which is the least ideal color to her to work with. She does not like colors of green and how green aesthetically looks.
In her sculptures, the pieces were about being functional and having the repeating patterns. She worked from, as she stated- “geometric, repeating shapes, in which some inspiration can be drawn from other cultures that use repetition in the artworks, like the islamic mosaics.” One of her known shapes is the triangle, in which she works with on her Table piece, which on the top used triangular shapes.
Overall the Dedo Gallery Senior Show was full of wonderful artist, and in respect showed a even greater journey through the Fine Arts Program of Valdosta State. Caitlin is an artist that works from emotions and patterns to produce her works, which had strong compositions and great color choices. The sculptures had significant form, which kept the viewer’s eyes busy as the sculptures were observed from all sides. The encaustics were engaging, using monochromatic schemes, but were strong in the manners of how the colors worked together to convey emotions. The colors worked together, and helped to bring the composition together, as the pattern that the colors were place helped move the eyes up and down the piece, along with the dripping technique. The Gallery was presented well, with a easy to observe set up, allowing for the eyes to move freely, and the artist were easy to access, and gain knowledge on the processes and why they made their art. Lastly, the gallery was not shy in the pieces used and it allowed for a great display.
Andrew Pack is a Art Education Major in the Fine Arts Department of Valdosta State University. He was born in Savannah, Georgia and lives in Macon, Georgia. His artwork revolves around faith and struggle. Human strife is a major part of life, and having dealt with depression; he uses it as the fuel for his artwork. He draws from personal experiences such as sports that he played such as football and track, along with the enjoyment of the outdoors. The last inspiration is from faith.