Senior Show Profile

by Joseph Mays III

Ta’kesia Parker is a student at Valdosta State University graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Art. Ta’kesia is from Albany, GA where she grew up loving nature and uses it as the theme in most of her work as she enjoys the calmness that is brings. She loves gardening, however pollen makes this difficult, which ultimately makes her go harder with her artwork. Although she tries to focus on the positive things in life, earlier life experiences really shaped the way she approaches her work. As a child, Ta’kesia watched as business owners tore down a massive tree in her community for retail space. This both saddened and enraged Ta’kesia but she was soon able to flip that anger and develop a calm art style.

Upon arriving at Valdosta State University, Ta’kesia began working more with background designs while keeping nature as her center theme. It was also at this time that she grew fond of jewelry making, her medium of choice for the Senior Exhibition.

2021 VSU Senior Showcase Review

By Jessica Smidley

The “Living in Color” exhibition features 20 art students graduating from Valdosta State University with the idea of exploring the use of art as communication. The exhibition contains a wide variety of mediums and art styles supporting the individual talents of each graduate. The graduates are diverse in background and personality that signifies the uniqueness of Valdosta State University students. The introduction notes, “Our title ‘Living in Color” represents each one of us as individuals and unique artists, and although these colors are different, we still can find the allure in them” (Dedo Maranville). The “Living in Color” exhibition gives these artists an opportunity to show their favorite and most representative works to show the range and depth their artist have developed.

The Valdosta National 2021: An Overview

By: Nicholas Black

The “Valdosta National 2021”, is an event held by the Dedo Maranville Fine Arts Gallery at Valdosta State University, and many artists from all over the United States are represented at the “Valdosta National.” In an interesting turn of events due to the Coronavirus Outbreak, the “Valdosta National” is shown online for the first time in the show’s history. There is now a possible international audience to the show due to the better visibility of the show. Everyone with internet access across the world can view the “Valdosta National” at any time at their leisure. In some ways, however, there is a disadvantage to the “Valdosta National” being solely online. People cannot get a closer look at the art, especially with the three-dimensional artworks like the sculptures. There is a variety of artwork in 2021’s “Valdosta National,” as paintings, videos, sculptures, mixed media, photography, textiles, lithographs, and etchings are included. Cash awards were given to the top four winners at this exhibition and Claire Dempster was the juror and judge of 2021’s exhibition.

Spring 2021 Senior Exhibition: The Diversity of “Living in Color”

Maria Carbonell

The Department of Art and Design of Valdosta State University is presenting the Spring 2021 Senior Exhibition at the Dedo Maranville Fine Arts Gallery, “as the semester comes to a close, 20 art students graduating from VSU have worked together to create the digital gallery show ‘Living inColor’” (VSU Gallery).

Valdosta National 2021: Not Quite Past 2020

By: Madison Pritchard

“The Valdosta National 2021” was hosted by Valdosta State University Dedo Maranville Fine Arts Gallery. It is an all media competition that was shown virtually this year due to the pandemic. The juror and judge for the competition this year was Claire Dempster. Some of the featured artists in the show were Amy Broderick, Samuel Dunson, and Martha Underriner.

A Catalog of Erosion in American Society

By Blake Wise

Attending the Dedo Maranville gallery exhibition “Bearing Witness”, visitors could possibly walk in on live debates over social issues within American economics and politics. The discussion always started on the walls and stretched around the entire gallery space connected from piece to piece. Margi Weir is the artist behind the work, and claims she’s had a myriad of different reactions from audiences since the series began, but one thing she’s always experienced is the impact. Weir’s work revolves around social constructs, governing ideology, racism, environmental issues and almost anything that has sculpted the American people over the past century into who we are, what we do and why we do it. The answers are all the same: we’re not doing enough.

Valdosta National 2020

By Alyse Bowman

Visitors who attended the “Valdosta National” saw a bicycle that resembled an antelope, a hyper-realistic colored pencil drawing of a kitten, patterned paper silhouettes, three-dimensional layers of colored cardstock artworks, and an abstract artwork which consisted of cut fabric and string. These were only a few works among the many which were displayed in the “Valdosta National” exhibition which opened on January 21, 2020. The exhibition was located at the Dedo Maranville Fine Arts Gallery at Valdosta State University. This was Valdosta State University’s 32nd year hosting the “Valdosta National”. There were 406 individual artists who competed for $1,500 in awards which were announced at the opening reception. The entire list of these awards as well as photographs of the show are located on the VSU Dedo Maranville Fine Arts Gallery Facebook page. A total of 52 works were selected from 50 individual artists from 25 states. This year Didi Dunphy had the honor of judging each artwork. She graduated with an MFA from San Francisco Art Institute. Dunphy is a professor at the Lamar Dodd School of Art at UGA where she teaches contemporary and digital media art classes. Furthermore, Dunphy spends her time as an independent curator in partnership with regional art museums.

Valdosta National 2020

By Sophia Dong

Dedo Maranville Gallery’s Valdosta National 2020 exhibition presented several distant artists from across the nation. The artworks were judged, and the placement was announced during the opening of the exhibition. Numerous forms of media were present at the gallery. The exhibition received submissions from artists across the nation. Although there were a variety of subjects and media, the gallery’s spacing of the artwork made the gallery appear cohesive. The gallery used white and bland walls to give the artwork proper breathing space where you couldn’t be distracted by other artwork that was presented in the gallery.

Armani Bibbs the Artist

Armani Bibbs considers himself a self-taught artist. Not taking art classes until his tenth grade year in high school, he found a love and passion for art at an early age. Born in Riverdale, Georgia, Armani spent most of his time growing up in Warner Robins, Georgia. At a young age he found a liking for art. “I remember I was in the first grade we were drawing stick figures, and I just remember mines being different from everybody else’s. Like everybody had the stick with the arms and head, but I stepped outside the box. I was the kid trying draw shirts and shoes on the stick figure, and I guess in that moment I knew I was good.” (Armani Bibbs).

Art is something that came natural to Armani. Coming to college really opened up Armani’s perspective about art. Growing up he thought of art as just being graphic design and painting and drawing. Coming to college and taking all the different classes, learning different skills boosted him as an artist.

When it comes to a specific style in art, he feels as though his art cannot be placed in a certain category because he is so diverse. The themes of most of his work deals with the African American community. He likes to create art that his culture can understand and relate to. “Say for instance like if I were to paint a painting of kids playing in the street, in a neighborhood. I would put a big street light in the center with the light out. Growing up if you were black, you knew to be at home before the street lights go off.” (Armani Bibbs).

“Implied” 18 x 24″ watercolor paint on canvas.

His most recent works has a similar theme, he focuses on the identity of a black man. In his the senior show his piece entitled “Implied”, is an 18×24 inch water color painting featuring a famous artist/actor Childish Gambino. This peace to Armani signified being black at all the wrong times. In the background of the painting he painted certain phrases like “when I walk, when I talk, when I sleep, when I breath” referencing that even doing those simple things as a black man sometimes is wrong in the view of the oppressors eyes. The main subject in the foreground has his arms stretched out with his hands making a gun symbol. Knowing your history on current issues with police and African American culture, you would know that a simple playful gesture as such could cause a black man to lose his life. Continue reading Armani Bibbs the Artist

Anything but Death

by Joseph Mays

Ashley Smith is a senior Art major at Valdosta State University, and plans to graduate in May of this year with a BFA. She is originally from Atlanta, but lived in Saint Simes Island for the majority of her life. When it comes to her creative process, Smith says that she usually starts off with a base concept. Next, she chooses her media based off what would work best with the specific idea. From there, she makes sketches that will guide her in the actual creation of her piece. Sometimes, however, for certain works, it may be in her favor to choose her media beforehand. Smith also notes that if the work is graphic design related, there may be times where the sketching process is digital rather that the old-fashioned pencil and paper. There also may be instances where the work is for a client, meaning it will be less personal to you, causing you to have to remove yourself from the work itself to an extent. In situations like this, Smith says that she still tries to incorporate themes that are a part of her style. Ashley Smith is greatly influenced by Hosanna Rubio, a metalsmith, whom Smith says incorporates moths and bone structures into much of her work, something that she often does herself. Along with concept, Smith is also fond of the way Rubio approaches her work in general.

Smith sees death as a “timely conclusion rather than an abrupt end.” She feels that death is seen as a taboo topic nowadays so she uses symbols of death, mostly from nature, to ease into the conversation. “If you’re going to talk about death, it is essential to talk about life first,” Smith says when explaining her reasoning behind much of her work. “To speak about the end (death) before we actually get there would be incomplete” she says, which is why life itself is also a focal point in some of her work. Often times, Smith uses her work to either describe and/or accentuate her own personal experiences.

The Days That Followed is a silkscreen piece that shows an older male sitting alone at a table, specifically in a dining room. The man shown is actually Smith’s grandfather and if you look closely you can see a faint outline of a person sitting across from the table. This faintness is Smith’s nana. The concept around this piece is the grief that is carried by her grandfather after the passing of his wife, Smith’s nana. Memento Mori is a digital animation that also focuses on the concept of death. In the short clip we see a moth sitting on an insect zapper, and as it flies off another insect comes and lands on the object. Upon making contact with it, the insect is zapped and falls to the ground. The moth shown is the death’s-head hawkmoth which is known for having a skull-like image on its back. This specific insect is used a lot in pop culture to represent death and Smith says that in order to live, we must remember that life will end. The fly getting zapped at the end adds comic relief and represents a way for people to ease into the topic of death.

Come Undone is a woodcut piece that is personal to Smith because it conceptually portrays a medical condition known as cleft lip, a condition in which an opening or split in the upper lip occurs during the facial development of an unborn baby. Smith was born with cleft lip and has had multiple surgeries to correct it. She once had a dream that those surgeries were undone, which inspired this elevated piece that is supposed to show the many transformations that take part within our lives. About 1-in-700 people are born with cleft lip, making it rather common, yet not many people talk about it. Smith hopes this piece can spark conversation surrounding the condition.

Lastly, Protect Me From The Past is a mixed media piece done with copper, enamel, and textiles. It is said that birthmarks represent how you died in the past life. This piece is done in the shape of a shoulder pad that can sit on one’s shoulder, the place of Smith’s birthmark. This formed metal has the life cycle of a beetle across it, an insect that represents rebirth, which should in turn help one to live. On the inside there are embroideries that make the metal comfortable to sit upon one’s shoulder. Psychopomps, creatures that can move between life and death, are another important part of this piece.

In today’s society, discussions revolving around death are often frowned upon. Ashley Smith understands this and, through her work, creates pieces that can be used as activators to open up the discussion about an such an inevitable topic.

Joseph Mays is a Bachelor of Art Student at Valdosta State University. With a focus in graphic design, Joseph’s passion for art and design has grown over the years and plans to graduate and pursue a career in the art field.