Gallery Learning

Hi there friends, family and people of the internet! Recently I've been working my tail off getting ready for everyone's favorite (or least favorite for some, yikes) time of the academic year: the Student Juried Exhibition! For the art majors (and minors) of my school, the gallery show each year is a big opportunity to show off what you have done since people last saw your art in a public setting. It is a competition however, so getting pieces in is in itself an accomplishment. For any artist, the notification that your art has managed to snag a spot on the wall (or floor for my sculpture people out there) of a gallery is in a way a sort of sign that you're doing something right. And when a piece doesn't make it in, you get a sense of things you need to work on or of which galleries like certain types of art. But for ours on campus, a wide variety of art mediums and subject matter are encouraged!

This year I was very pleased to have all three of mine accepted into the gallery for show. Last year, I had two of my pieces shown while the third piece did not receive the "seal of approval". It is what it is! Rejection, as much as acceptance, can be used as a learning experience!

(The blue woman holding a heart next to me and the heart-for-a-head woman at the top right are mine.)

One of my favorite things to do at the receptions for gallery openings is to hear what other people have to say about the art, whether is be my own works or works of an artist I know. Hearing the audience's interpretations of works you know about is sooo much fun! One artwork can have an infinite amount of meanings! Each individual person has a background of their own. Everyone has a story. What makes you YOU is that you have a different personality and set of memories that are completely unique to you! (Exciting, right?!!) So when you look at an artwork, you are bound to get something slightly different out of it than the person next to you. Art doesn't have to have just one meaning. In fact, it wouldn't be nearly as exciting if it did! I know a great many artists who want their work to be seen only one way. There is only one real story behind it, they say. But what if not everyone can relate to that one story the way it is? I personally want my artworks to be relatable in whatever way the viewer sees fit. I want my my art to work in their own lives! That's why a lot of my figures are faceless. I would like the audience to be able to see themselves in the work. To be able to connect with it in a way that words wont allow them to explain. The relationship between the viewer and the artwork is personal and tailored by yourself, for yourself. You and you alone can see it that way. What a beautiful and special experience that is.

So thank you to anyone and everyone who has come to the gallery so far and will go the gallery. Thank you to those of you who have gone to an art museum or are planning a trip to one. Thank you to those of you who have ever even seen art! It's all around you and I encourage you to take the time to create and sculpt your own view of it! Go out there and be amazed.

- Hallie.

#art #gallery #artist #studentjuriedshow