Faculty from Vancouver Island University are showcasing their work during the View Gallery’s exhibit Process and Practice.
The exhibit includes work from 11 professors from the art and design departments.
Jason Gress created a piece called Dr. Huxtable and Mr. Hyde from Bill Cosby comedy records and covers, sweaters, pants and leather shoes. It also features a banister with two headphones attached for an audio experience. The sculpture created from the components resemble a man’s body.
“Inspiration arose from the bigger idea of what do we do with celebrities behaving badly,” he said. “What do we do when they fall from grace? What do we do with the cultural products they leave us?”
It started when Gress walked into a thrift store and saw the records. He had an immediate emotional reaction of repulsion he said. He said it’s “sad” because he watched shows like The Cosby Show and Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. He has included two audio clips from those shows for people to hear.
Gress took the records and the covers and cut them up, adding them into the piece in glass tubes. He said it was his way of taking them out of circulation and dealing with his own feelings about Cosby’s actions.
For ceramics instructor Scott Leaf, his inspiration came from coming across photos and information about bronze surgical tools that were unearthed during a dig in Pompeii in a surgeon’s house.
“The tools were all corroded through time. I was drawn to them,” said Leaf, adding he wanted to explore them through his own personal means of expression.
His piece made primarily of clay mimics the tools’ metal appearance, but the sculpture, an untitled piece, was created on a large scale and reaches the ceiling.
Leaf said he likes his work to attract and hold people’s attention with its presence. And he likes the medium itself to be presented in a form that’s not typical, that is “playful and interesting.” Leaf said when people think of ceramics it’s associated with practical uses.
Nancy Pagé, a professor from the graphic design department, said creating her visual art was a way to get away from the screen.
“To me this is just play and a way to explore texture,” said Pagé.
Her piece, Birds and Words and One Without Either, was created with encaustic wax, photographs, laser prints and book pages.
“As soon as the wax is applied it dries. I put stuff between the layers and keep building and then scrape away to get texture,” she said.
The piece, a collection of six squares, features silhouettes of birds. One piece has an excerpt from a book that talks about “strength in his little heart” added to the work.
“I respect these birds. It might not be something you think of when you look at this crew on a lampost,” said Pagé.
Justin McGrail, gallery curator, said the last faculty show was in 2010.
“For students and faculty it’s important to see what professors are actually doing in their studios,” he said.
Process and Practice at the View Gallery, located in building 330 on The VIU campus, runs until March 3. The gallery is open Tuesday to Friday from 1-4 p.m. Admission is by donation.
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