By Jonathon H. Staten
With the current issue of the COVID-19, the Valdosta State University’s Senior Exhibition transitioned to an online platform. Some may see this as an unfortunate tragedy while others see it as a easier way to display their works while also reaching a wider audience. The Department of Art & Design presents In Bold where the artists seek to convey the truth of life experiences. Using radical, social, and political ideas to drive their work, they intend to spark conversation and understanding in their art to express their individual truths.
Celeste Civis is currently a senior finishing her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art and wants to find a career at Wiregrass to fund her own home studio to work on future artworks. She was born in Michigan, but lived most of her life in Florida before, leaving once again, for college at Valdosta State University in 2015. She followed her desire to be an artist at a young age, sometime around elementary school. She described her past being fuzzy, but vividly remembers her father gathering an opossum skull and rooster claw to create a cryptid—an opossum unicorn of sorts. It seems as if her father is almost a driving force of her artistic style of producing works that seem awry yet fascinating. In Is This My Home?, returned Civis to her childhood for her love of cryptids and the opossum unicorn creature. Having this connection allows for the viewer to have a truth or touch of her childhood. The piece is unique with its combination of various animal skulls and its solid color black from its intaglio process.
Throughout Civis’ work, the viewer will find a common theme of death and nature. In Oh Deer 3, Civis uses photography to capture the effects nature has on a deer after its death, something that comes natural from all living organisms. Using the side profile of deer skull and using color allows a full range of saturated colors to give a sense of melancholy. Civis mentions humanity usually separates themselves from nature and focuses on death as ending and needs to be avoided. Oh Dear 3 introduces the idea of seeing the beauty of what can come from nature. It combines the spectacle of death with the energy of nature—a sense of understanding about life and death.
Civis veered away from making “creepy” art earlier in her life because of bullying and worrisome from teachers. Coming to Valdosta State University allowed Civis to open her true potential of being the artist she is now. She feels as if she is flourishing because she is creating art that she personally likes, specifically taking homage of her life. Anemone, Black Rose, Geranium, Marigold refers to Civis’ childhood trauma with her “birth giver.” The bold colors of blue and red brings attention the piece as a whole while presenting unity through each subject presented—flowers. As the viewer explores Civis’ work, one will see how personal each artwork is and how it reflects to her life. Celeste Civis uses a quote by David Bowie to drive her online page with “I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring.” If the viewer delves into Civis’ work, they sure will not be bored, but be quite interested in her work. Taking homage of her life pays off through her way of coping from her past while also flourishing in her future endeavors of understanding life and death; she does this without hesitation and In Bold.
Jonathon Holden Staten is a senior in the Art Education program at Valdosta State University. Upon graduation, he plans to pursue a teaching career in K-12 public education.