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.
“My body of work is about establishing family ties. All of my photographs are from Maine, which is an important place to my family and I.”
Hannah Wynn
Hannah Wynn has spent her time at Valdosta State University broadening her horizons while also maintaining a deep connection to her familial roots. As she graduates with the VSU Class of 2021, her photographic exploration of growth and bond left a lasting impact on the Spring 2021 Senior Art Exhibition, titled “Living in Color.”
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).
Finally, for Tony Coates, there is something to look forward to during these strange times. What’s certain for him is the completion of his senior year, acquiring a Bachelor’s of Arts degree, at Valdosta State University. The artist, from Gwinnett county, Ga, is featured in Dedo Maranville Fine Arts Gallery exhibition, “In Bold”, along with the rest of his senior class.
He crouched down on the floor with his back against the couch, laughing as we each yelled “Can you hear me now?” into the microphones of our respective laptops. Isaac Wright, a current senior artist in the Valdosta State, Dedo Maranville Fine Arts Gallery exhibition “In Bold,” sat down with me to discuss his livelihood as a maker, as well as his work as a whole. Amid a pandemic that has shaken the world, it has become apparent that the arts are also not immune to panic and have felt the ramifications of a slowing world. Isaac discusses not only how his sleep schedule has been impacted but also his motivation, workspace, artwork, and mindset.
Living between two countries, the UK and the US, has shown Blake Wise how different places handle different cultural situations. He has spent most of his life however living in the US. Blake plans to move back to the UK to continue his work and find an artist residency or a studio position near Birmingham. He knew that he wanted to be an artist because of an open moment he had with his art teacher in high school. He had opened up about some of his problems with dealing with his identity and she recommended that he put his emotional stress into a form of making.
Amongst the graduating seniors of Valdosta State University’s (VSU) class of Spring 2020 is Nariel Tribble, graduating with a BA in Art. Nariel was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, until she then later moved to Savannah, Georgia; she has lived in Savannah ever since being in the first grade. Valdosta State University has really helped shape Nariel as a person and, furthermore, as an artist. The small, family-like, intimate atmosphere of the Art Department at VSU has been an amazing aspect of college for Nariel due to being able to really get to know fellow peers and instructors. She explains that everyone knows everyone and that it is just a very close-knit place. Also, “it gives more opportunities for growth and to dive deep into the specific media you love”, she explains. Nariel was granted the opportunity to study abroad in Japan as well, deepening her knowledge of art and culture as well as aiding her in making many more new friends.
“Regeneration”, Copper, Brass, 3D printed plastic, 3″ x 1 1/2″ x 3 1/4″, 2018
Nariel, before starting her college journey, simply loved to draw on her own and just doodle; it wasn’t until starting her major that she discovered a love and seriousness for other medium. She soon came to realize that she had a deep love for sculpture and printmaking in particular and claims that the instructors she had for those classes really inspired her and helped her grow in the media.
“For a Walk”, textiles, dried grass, iron, and copper wire, 5 1/2″ x 11″, 2020
Nariel’s favorite thing in the world is and always has been plants and nature in general. Her love for plants sparked when she was a young girl. Nariel explained that, as a young girl, she felt so overwhelmed and distraught from all of the negativity around her in the world. She felt as though she couldn’t do much to aid in bettering the life of humans, so she searched for an alternative. This is when her love for nature started. She stated, “the natural world became my sacred ground in a society that lacked both sympathy and empathy. I wanted to protect nature since I couldn’t protect everyone else”. So, Nariel’s work in the Senior Show, and in general, reflect this idea and theme.
“Sweet Embrace”, lithograph, 9 1/2″ x 12″, 2020
In Nariel’s pieces, she analyzes not only the natural world but also the nature of humans and the commonalities between them. She states, “in my work, I address homogeneity between the disconnected worlds of nature and man. I visually express those connections by utilizing organic matter and the language of flora with sculpted forms, metal, and printmaking media”. She enjoys exploring ideas that cause people to stop and think about the world and the negative events occurring in our environment, both natural and human. She often “challenges the power dynamics of both worlds against each other, hoping it will influence us to be more humane”. Nariel informed me that there are no particular stories behind her individual pieces, rather, they all work together as a whole under this theme and idea.
Untitled (Decaying Flower), copper, sterling silver, 3″ x 5 1/2″ x 2 1/2″, 2019
Nariel’s work definitely gives its viewers a sense of both nature and the destruction within our beloved environment. Some of her works draw more attention to the beauty of nature, while others draw attention to the destruction within it. Regardless, Nariel hopes that her audience will find peace by experiencing some of her pieces and hope that they will also realize that there is so much cruelty being done to our world that, together, we can little by little fix.
Due to unfortunate circumstances, the senior show exhibition has been put online along with the rest of classes at Valdosta State University. The Coronavirus, or COVID-19, has ravaged the world and has managed to put everything at a halt. Classes have been fully moved to online, stores are being closed or put on tight restriction, and shortages of necessities are scaring masses of people. Despite all these setbacks, students are living on and working around the challenges of the virus.
