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.
Finding a Sense of Home Within the Valdosta National 2020 Exhibition
By: Harlee E. Webb
Valerie Aranda, Caminos/Paths (Mosconi town), Acrylic on canvas
This year the 32nd annual “Valdosta National” All-Media Juried Exhibition was held at Valdosta State University in the Dedo Maranville Fine Arts Gallery. This specific exhibition contained a variety of artwork from all over the country showcasing contemporary visual art from 50 artists representing 25 states. From the ceramics studio down the hall, one could hear the chatter of numerous guests, waiting to enter the gallery. Students covered in paint came fleeing towards the gallery in swaths– so too did men and women in business attire– all of them piling in through the glass door. Having maneuvered my way through the throng, I found myself amongst the menagerie of artwork– some extremely pleasing, and others shocking to behold. This exhibition was diverse in media, style, and subject matter, so much so that it felt overwhelming. The richness of this exhibition served not only to showcase the talents of the artists from 25 states, but also to provoke discourse between those attending.
This year the 32nd annual “Valdosta National” All-Media Juried Exhibition was held at Valdosta State University in the Dedo Maranville Fine Arts Gallery. This specific exhibition contained a variety of artwork from all over the country showcasing contemporary visual art from 50 artists representing 25 states. From the ceramics studio down the hall, one could hear the chatter of numerous guests, waiting to enter the gallery. Students covered in paint came fleeing towards the gallery in swaths– so too did men and women in business attire– all of them piling in through the glass door. Having maneuvered my way through the throng, I found myself amongst the menagerie of artwork– some extremely pleasing, and others shocking to behold. This exhibition was diverse in media, style, and subject matter, so much so that it felt overwhelming. The richness of this exhibition served not only to showcase the talents of the artists from 25 states, but also to provoke discourse between those attending.
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
Jasmine Allen lives a double life. By day she’s an art student. To class she sported a simple Black turtleneck and a pair of blue jeans- a look reminiscent of Steve Jobs. Except this Steve Jobs donned a pair of Nike Air Max 95s. It’s been a full week since the Seniors had their Opening Exhibition Convergence. Even though the seniors have had their show, the school work continues to flow for Allen. We talk about all the projects she still has due while she grabs a snack from the vending machine. Like all seniors, she’s so ready to be done with school, one facet of her double life. By night, Allen is the CEO and Creative Director for Ugly Urban, a Georgia-based street-wear brand. Ugly Urban or UURBN prides itself on transmitting a message of love, power, and overcoming barriers through different media such as printmaking, fashion, and even furniture. When you ask Allen why the brand is called that, she’d quickly respond, “It’s the ugly struggle to defy urban stereotypes.” Personally, I connect with that meaning. In a world where urban can be easily pinned as another word for black, there are plenty of stereotypes in need of defying. Urban culture is often alienated in higher-class circles, but Ugly Urban is meant to serve as the warm embrace for the alienated. Through street-wear silhouettes and witty Instagram captions, Allen has captured an audience of fellow culture enthusiasts, and outcasts.
“It was a feeling of accomplishment,” She stated when asked how she felt about being a graduating senior showing art in the senior show. “Because, nobody really thought I was going to finish my work, so me finishing it, and feeling as if I did a good job, it makes me feel accomplished. I still get compliments about some of the pieces. Somebody told me this morning that they were dope.”
D.U.S Series (Red)
VSU’s Dedo Maranville Gallery houses 16 seniors’ pieces, and Allen has 3 pieces in the show. The three pieces include: D.U.S. (Series), UURBN Throne, and UURBN Wardrobe. “Which is your favorite?” I asked. She took a long pause and said the UURBN Wardrobe. The piece she’s referring to is a slim yet tall wardrobe. Standing at 6ft, the Wardrobe towers over Allen’s small person. The wardrobe is made of wood that has been stained black, and is fashioned with glass on the doors and lights included inside to illuminate the clothes, all easily identified as UURBN by their similar logo bearing the Defy Urban Stereotypes motif. I immediately asked, “Why is this one your favorite?” It didn’t take long for her to reply, “Because it was the piece I did outside of school. I literally had to watch a You-tube video and prove to myself I could do it. I had to figure out how to figure it out.” I can’t help but be impressed about how this small woman managed to build such a tall structure. The clothes inside are just as important as the wardrobe encapsulating them. Hanging within the wardrobe are hoodies, tee-shirts, and jerseys, all coveted street-wear essentials. The fashion of UURBN takes inspiration from a hip-hop influenced 90s era. Hip-Hop enthusiasts can clearly recall a time when sporting your favorite brand’s jersey was a huge trend in parties and music videos. Wearing the jersey of a champion made you feel like you were one too, like you’re part of the team. Taking a look at the clothes, it’s clear to see that Allen seeks to bring that same feeling of camaraderie back with her ‘UURBN’ jerseys.
D.U.S Series (Yellow)
I found it appropriate to inform Allen that the UURBN Throne is my personal favorite piece of hers. The Throne is a chair built of the letters U-U-R-B-N. One could clearly tell that repetition is clearly important to Allen. Allen uses these letters to create a visual language based off of urbanism and self-pride. The Chair, similar to the wardrobe, is made of black stained wood. This piece of furniture is also ornamented with a series of small interlocking ‘UU’ logos. Thematically it pairs well with the Wardrobe because they are so similar in aesthetic. Although the pieces aren’t directly next to each other, they still converse as harmonious pieces of artistic furniture crafted in the same family. “I painted it black because black is my favorite color. Black can be a symbol of power and royalty, which is why it’s a throne, but really black is my favorite color.” Allen shared with me that the throne is meant to empower whoever is sitting on it. Since the piece acts as an accessory of luxury, the user of the piece assumes the role of royalty. “What would sitting in this chair make me the king of?” “The chair is a symbol of royalty within the community. It’s a symbol of Kingship and Queenship. I didn’t want to limit it to just one gender. Whoever chooses to sit in it is considered royalty regardless of gender and skin color. I speak on urban from the perspective of a Black Woman because that’s all I know, but UURBN doesn’t exclude anyone.”
D.U.S Series (Blue)
Lastly, the piece that Allen and I could both agree to have a special connection with is D.U.S. Series. The piece is a portrait of a man, whose face is covered by a butterfly. The figure of man and butterfly sits carefully placed on top of a colorful circle and the phrase “Defy Urban Stereotypes” is repeated behind. The series is able to be differentiated piece by piece with the circle that sits behind the man’s head. The circle varies in color; blue, red, yellow. The meaning to this piece was shared as a caption posted to Ugly Urban’s Instagram page just days before the show. The special meaning read, “Celebration of the black man. Often times black men don’t get the necessary praise they deserve, so with this piece I took a friend of mine and covered his face to take away the identity because sometimes we only treat people a certain way due to their affiliation with us when in actuality everyone deserve the same respect you give to the people you love. I used Red to represent power, love, and determination. Yellow to represent joy, happiness, and intellect. Blues represents trust, loyalty, and confidence. These words are used to combat the negativity that is formed against the black male. Love your brother and mate and uplift him so that he can be the leader he’s destined to be. Defy urban stereotypes.”
Rasheem Callender is a Fine Arts student from Atlanta, GA. While in undergrad, Callender is focusing on graphic design and printmaking. After graduating, Callender will attend grad school with the expectation of becoming an art director or a curator.
The recent exhibit at the Dedo Maranville Art Gallery at Valdosta State University was intriguing and full of life. The exhibition is titled “Mixed Bag: An Assortment of Contemporary Craft” which is a perfect description for the show itself. The show consisted of mixed media contemporary crafts by five different artists from across the US: Max Adrian, Emily Culver, Elyse-Krista Mische, M. Paige Ward, and Xia Zhang. Each piece in the exhibit dealt with different aspects of personal identity such as sexuality, religion, and culture.
The set-up of the exhibit appeared to be fairly spaced out, as if they did not have enough pieces featured or large enough pieces to fill the space allotted. This could also be partly to blame on the arrangement as well. Each piece demanded to be observed by the viewer so much that each created a space of their own. Each piece takes the viewer into an individual space because of the amount of energy that radiates from the works.
Max Adrian, The Buddy Community, Faux Fur, pleather, leather, spandex, misc. materials, chains, hardware
The work of Max Adrian was a crowd favorite in the exhibit. His work features pleather, fur, chains, and spandex, which gives his work a sexual energy. Adrian’s sculptural piece entitled, “The Buddy Community,” can be interpreted as a representation of the sexual community behind BDSM. This soft sculptural collection features 12 plush, animal-like figurines. Each figure is clothed in furs and leathers and black and pink are continuously used to add unity among each form. Flashes of electric blue, red, and neon yellow on other forms add life to this piece. Some forms have animal ears and tails while others are missing these features. Each form does have two small holes in its head, where a nose would usually be placed. Coming out of some of these nostril-like holes are chains hooked to a ring which resembles a septum piercing. Adrian created these forms without faces, giving the viewer the opportunity to project themselves onto these forms and explore their own sexual identity.
Another piece that stood out was Adrian’s, “Scrap Alphabet,” wall piece. This piece has scraps of pleather, thread, faux fur, and athletic mesh pressed between clear, square vinyl. There are twelve sets of ten vinyl squares linked together by a single ring on each end in vertical and even rows. Adrian created 120 individual compositions out of these scraps of fabric and unified them using a limited color palette of red, pink, black, white and yellow. Adrian placed the yellow scraps of fabric through the piece, allowing the viewer’s eyes to move throughout the artwork. Each individual composition has a different personality and mood. One of the compositions features yellow scraps radiating out of a black square center, resembling a cheery sunflower or sun. Another square has black and pink string tangled inside of it, evoking chaos. Overall, this piece forces the viewer to form their own meanings and emotions based on the scrap compositions floating within each square.
Xia Zhang, Thoroughness of your Seediness, Video
Xia Zhang was another artist featured in this exhibit. Her video installation, titled “Thoroughness of your Seediness,” features a visually satisfying bird’s eye view of the artist cutting up a pomegranate and stitching it back together with black thread. There are red juices bleeding from this fruit and seeds pop out of it as she slices it into thin layers. This video seems to be a symbol of heartbreak and healing. Zhang is shown threading the needle and tying the knot in preparation to put her heart, the pomegranate, back together. This video is long enough for some viewers to grow bored or impatient. This can be also seen as a symbol of an individual taking their time to heal their heart regardless of feeling rushed by others. Healing has no time limit.
The feature that made this exhibit the most enjoyable was the playful exploration of mediums. Throughout each piece, there were various mediums seen in crafts such as fabrics and stitching and each artist used them to create piece that explore emotions and self-identity. This exhibit relates both to the artist and the viewer giving the opportunity to explore their own sense of identity and truly gives definition to the exhibit title “Mixed Bag: An Assortment of Contemporary Craft.”
A’Niecia De Four is an Art Education major at Valdosta State University. She is originally from Dallas, Texas but has spent most of her life living in Georgia. She enjoys creates work based around womanism and the objectification of the female form.
Valdosta State University’s Dedo Maranville Fine Arts Gallery has recently brought in a new show: Mixed Bag: An Assortment of Contemporary Craft. This exhibition is composed of five artists (Max Adrian, Emily Culver, Elyse-Krista Mische, M. Paide Ward, and Xia Zhang) who bring together different perspectives of contemporary art from across the country. Artists today often explore the concepts of sexuality, gender, religion, race, and death and this exhibition brings those challenges to the public of Valdosta, Georgia.
After walking in through the front, you’ll find the gallery to your left behind two glass doors. The overall space is small, and if you’re not paying attention, you may just bump into Mische’s piece The Great Divide. A white, pyramid-like shape with human silhouettes across from one another. One laying down and the other rising upwards, likely calling back to religion- specifically Christianity (as there is a cross at the top of the piece).
Zhang’s work Thoroughness in Your Seediness is in a dark corner with the identification card moved to a completely different spot. It’s a bit disorienting. Thoroughness in Your Seediness is a video of someone cutting up a pomegranate and sewing the pieces back together. The crunch of the knife against the fruit is a little unsettling and the lack of any outside noise makes it border on ASMR (or Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response). Though most ASMR videos are meant to relax the viewer, certain sounds may trigger an unpleasant chill or irritation of the ears. I’m not sure what to make of this work, however, I feel a deeper meaning present by the choice of medium. I found myself asking a friend what they made of it and they said, “Maybe it’s about control and reconstruction”. The fact this person chooses to cut up the fruit but sews it back together in their own way can symbolize the willful destruction of something to bring it back more personalized than before. In relation to Zhang’s statements about race and genders in their art, I can’t say that this piece’s message is clear.
Contrasting with Thoroughness in Your Seediness, along the first wall to the left is Zhang’s Madame X. The set of 8 frames is evenly spaced and well lit. The small subtitles for each image insist that you get up close and move with the piece. Zhang’s focus here is on race and gender, which becomes evident through the text. The fourth image (from left to right) shows a man grabbing a woman by her arm and saying, “You come to my room, then there won’t be any trouble.” In five, six, and seven we notice the Chinese women using bad English, which contrasts with all the men’s lines and enforces the foreign dialect. Created with porcelain, cotton, gold thread, wood, wire, and glaze, each image appears as a sleek, yellow box that juts out from the wall. Each box is somewhat crooked with dents and bends as if it was crafted quickly or half-hearted. However, the glaze on each frame shows Zhang’s solidified dedication to their shape. The subtitles are emphasized with the gold thread while the images appear printed on standard copy paper.
M. Paige Ward, “How Firm a Foundation IV”, Cast concrete, cedar, found wood, copper plated nails
Most of the work off the wall belongs to Ward and their How Firm a Foundation series. Created from cast concrete, cedar, found wood, and copper nails, Ward plays with the word “firm” by casting the pillows with concrete. Nestled above each of the concrete casts are curved wood panels, lined with thin strips of wood and held together by the copper nails. Ward creates the illusion of the wood’s weight through the realistic curvature and bends in her cast pillows. With each piece, the size of the pillow, height, and type of the wood change, but everything else remains the same. The concrete pillows represent Ward’s longing for stability and the curved wood may very well represent the artist or the audience of the world she wishes to stabilize.
Within the space, there are several pedestals positioned around the room and a large tiled artwork on the floor in the far back (Culver’s What She Saw When She Walked In). This setup is a common approach to so the overall feel is lacking and a little creepy. Overall, this show is meant to evoke thought and spur conversation. It is some of the newest works out there so that speaks to the appeal. However, the current setup of the pieces with the odd placement and lackluster lighting choices somewhat detracts from that power.
Bio: Arin is a junior Bachelor of Arts major who is studying animation and graphics design at Valdosta State University. They are scheduled to graduate in 2020 and wish to work with television, movies, and gaming.
The Valdosta National group exhibition at the Dedo Maranville Gallery in the Fine Arts building did a wonderful job showing the different styles of artists’ works with different mediums and styles used throughout each piece. Not only was I surprised by the variety and distinctions of artworks displayed on the walls of the gallery but there were even sculptures built in such a unique way, giving the viewer more than one way to look at the artists’ piece. The works Square Sun by Nathan Taves and The Garden by Bryce Speed caught my attention the most when looking through the exhibition. It brought up an issue I find amongst many artworks in exhibitions, how judges go about deciding which artwork gets awarded and if there is an appropriate judging criterion they follow in order to make their judgment. In this paper, I will address the issue of judgment, placement and which works I found to be successful and not so successful.
The exhibition Mixed Bag: An Assortment of Contemporary Art at Valdosta State University was very surprising. After walking around the gallery a few times I analyzed what I saw, and at first what seemed like confusion later developed into disappointment. Although I viewed some pieces that piqued my interest, I was not entirely pleased with the show. Continue reading Mixed Bag and Mixed Feelings: My Take on Contemporary Art
Mixed Bag: An Assortment of Contemporary Craft displays five artists using interesting craft techniques to explore difficult subject ranging from universal human experiences to those of specific identity groups . The artwork in the gallery is spread across the wall and on simple white stands around the floor; there is plenty of space between pieces but the space still feels resolved and filled. Each of the five artists have more than one artwork to show though they are not always placed next to—or even near—each other; the exhibition is truly “mixed”. You may come across an artist’s statement and biographical information across the gallery from some of their work. These statements give background information on both the artists and the meanings behind their art; they are best read after you have experienced and considered the work on your own and have come to your own conclusions.
The “Mixed Bag” is a variety of contemporary art created by five different artist. The exhibition was set up in the Dedo Maranville Fine Arts Gallery at Valdosta State University. The exhibition deal with a variety of social issues that are sometimes too hard to discuss. So each artist created artworks dealing with social and political topics that they feel strong about. The topics vary from sexuality, queerness, faith, race and death.
When I first walked into the gallery, I felt a sense of emptiness compared to previous shows. The walls were not over crowded with works. In fact it was maybe two or three works of art on each wall, the back wall in the gallery even had one piece hanging. Just based on the scene set up, I concluded in my mind that this show may be a very simple show, but yet the artworks convey strong messages that we often deal with throughout life.
Ideally, I made connections that most of the work had that post modernism feel. Looking at the pieces I felt as though they were made from your everyday household objects. One piece in particular that sat in the back of the gallery on the floor caught my intention. It was a block constructed with what I believed to be bath tiles. It had what I assumed were bath plugs, until I further looked and noticed the chains attached to the stoppers were actually necklaces. The piece was entitled “What I See”. It had a very monochromatic color scheme. To me the piece implied a story. What you see is what you see, nothing more, nothing less if that makes sense.
“What She Saw When She Walked In”: Emily Culver, copper, enamel, caulk, nickel, silver, wood, paint
Majority of the pieces had a different variety of media. The pieces by artist Xia Zhang interested me the most. He used different mediums in his work such as porcelain, cotton, gold thread, wood, wire and glaze. When first looking at his pieces before really engaging them, I thought that I was looking at a series of different paintings. What I realized was that they were scenes from movies. There was a total of eight different pieces, each of them dealing with social subjects dealt with throughout the world. One of the pieces said “To Americans, all Chinese look alike for goodness’ sake”. I immediately interpreted that this particular piece of work focused on racism. Emphasizing how Americans view other that are of a different race. Zhang’s pieces varied from the subject of racism, sexuality, and feminism.
Vinyal, Suede, metal
Another piece in particular that caught my attention was the setup of dolls, by Max Adrian entitled “The Buddy Community”. My initial reaction was why he dressed these dolls up in these different furs, and loud colors. The dolls were all connected at the neck with rope metal chains. I wondered what the purpose was. My initial take was that the artist was showing how much of an influence friends can have on one another. Signifying that we often let our friends influence us on a lot of decisions. Almost like having a chain wrapped around one another pulling them and making them do whatever we want, whether the decision is right or wrong. Continue reading Mixed Bags
