Artwork featured by the esteemed faculty of the ODU Art Department at ODU will be up until Feb. 22 at the Gordon Art Galleries. The exhibition, called “Hibernation, Incubation, Innovation,” features pieces from artists ranging from part-time adjunct professors, all the way to full-time tenure professors.
“It’s important for the students to see the talent that the faculty we have here has,” said Executive Director for the Arts, Cullen Strawn. Often fully involved in teaching their skills to aspiring students, the expertise these professors contain frequently goes unnoticed. This exhibition aims to showcase the artistry that many of the professors at ODU possess.
Assistant Director of Operations Sterling Goulart stated, “It’s a great opportunity for students in the department to see what their professors are actually doing.”
The exhibition features many different art forms, ranging from sculptures to paintings and photography. The artwork explores many different styles, along with many different themes that are personal to each individual artist.
Upon entering the exhibit, viewers are immediately met with “Cosmic Tomatoes,” by Richard Nickel. The remarkable sculpture, composed of three colorful tomatoes stacked on top of one another, towers over guests as they enter the gallery.
“I love the life cycle of tomatoes,” Professor Nickel said about his piece, “the way their colors shift as they grow, from sprout-green, to yellow, to vibrant red. It’s remarkable how so many survive with only a thin skin for protection.”
The tomatoes are supposed to represent themes of family, according to the artist. “I see a family as a garden, growing together under the sun. Always connected, yet always separate, each of us at a different stage of our own ‘tomatoe’d’ existence.”
Professor Nickel specializes in ceramics, and he will be offering a ceramics class this summer for both majors and non-majors. He is excited for viewers of the exhibit to be able to witness and appreciate the plethora of different art forms that the professors at ODU have utilized in this exhibit.
Professor John Roth, the chair of the ODU Art Department and featured artist, spoke about his piece, “Soft Seas Everflow,” “To divert myself when I last went through a rough patch in my personal life, I found myself mesmerized by videos taken aboard ships sailing through incredible storms.” The sculpture consists of a base sculpted to look like a rough ocean, with a wave-patterned cube turned on its side as the centerpiece. Amidst the base are toy boats, battling against the swell.
Professor Roth touches on the irony of the name of the piece and how it does not match the violent nature of the ocean that the tiny toy boats have to endure. The artwork features acrylic paint and carved foam topped with a water-based resin, a new technique the artist employed for this piece. While working as a professor full-time, it took the artist six months to complete the finished product on display today.
“I do have recurring themes that appear in the works such as resource use, sea level rise and general environmental concerns,” Professor Roth replied when asked what he was trying to convey with this piece.
One of Professor Roth’s main goals is for audiences to understand the level of research that not only he, but all of the art professors at ODU, put into their works in order to produce the highest quality of art. “By experiencing this variety of research, I hope [the audience] will be challenged to interact with and co-author with the work. I hope they have a sense of wonder that resonates after the initial viewing,” Professor Roth said.
Other notable pieces of the exhibition include two paintings of a woman holding a sloth by Jing Qin, a mixed media wagon by Garth Fry and a basket woven entirely from poems typed on paper, paired with an audio recording by Tamryn McDermott.
The diversity of the different art styles, whether it be a painting with acrylic on canvas, a film photograph on archival prints, mixed media expressions or various types of sculptures, shows the range and brilliance that the professors in the ODU art department encapsulate.
“I think students will get a great idea of what their professors are doing, and maybe become interested in taking certain classes by certain professors,” Goulart stated.
The comment book that rests near the exit of the exhibit featured remarks such as, “This was a very interesting and enlightening exhibit. I enjoyed,” and, “An awesome exhibition from awesome ODU professors! You guys are truly talented.”
“Hibernation, Incubation, Innovation,” will be on display until Feb. 22. This exhibit is an amazing way to spend an afternoon looking at art while also getting to appreciate the miraculous and talented contributions that lie within ODU’s faculty.
