Past Exhibitions
2020
In keeping with the goals of the visual arts department and the UNG art galleries, we initiated online exhibitions to continue showcasing artwork through the 2020 pandemic.
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Artists across the country and right here in Georgia have adjusted to the circumstances of the COVID-19 quarantines. Whether a practicing graphic designer or an art educator, each experienced disruption in their routines; however, they still produced artwork. We contacted our alums and asked them to share their work inspired by the quarantine.
The Department of Visual Arts Art Galleries are excited to share our latest online exhibition: Alumni Voices from the Quarantine. The artists in this exhibition graduated from the University of North Georgia, Gainesville State College and North Georgia College & State University. Like our current students, some used art to reflect their mood, others reflected on life outside of the quarantine. Each one represents the wide range of reactions of the UNG visual arts alums to this remarkable time.
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The Bells
Mixed traditional and digital media
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Untitled: Time in Quarantine 1
Acrylic on canvasI have admired minimalist artists and color field painters for years. While I have painted abstractly for several years, I was always afraid to make the leap to a more minimal painting style. When the pandemic hit, all my inhibitions left and I decided that I needed to paint what I wanted instead of worrying about what anyone else said or thought of my work. My art during quarantine has been some of my bravest work to date.
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Remote
Procreate and Apple pencil on the iPadCreating coloring pages began as a way for me to check in with myself and process the news around the pandemic. I needed to make time to sit and draw during a time when all routine and normalcy evaporated. This piece reflects how powerless I felt during the early stages of the pandemic. What could one do at the time besides #Tahoe and watch it unfold? The pandemic has taught me to relax the grip on what I thought would happen and really be present with what is happening. Despite the global crisis, there are good things unfolding around us. And maybe because of the global crisis, we are holding those good things even more dear.
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Void Fill
Terracotta clay, press moldedThe ephemeral installation, Void Fill, describes the vulnerability of a sudden separation from my studio, companions, and routine while transitioning into uncertainty. The title refers both to the act of filling packing materials with clay to use them as molds, and the fact that packing materials are often referred to as “void fill”. The work accurately depicts the degradation of this current dystopian world as it is exposed to the elements and slowly withers away.
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Saratoga - Corona Indian
Acrylic on canvasDuring the Covid Pandemic, I was approached by the Krewe Of Red Beans in New Orleans. They asked me to paint this portrait of a Mardi Gras Indian for a benefit auction in order to raise relief funds for those affected by the Corona Virus.
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Woman in Red Drapery
Acrylic on canvas
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Through the Window
Acrylic on canvas
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Carbon Study No. 3
Okawara Japanese paper, goat skin, deer parchment, handmade flax paper, carbon, binders board, wheat starch paste, linen thread, blind toolingThrough my Carbon Study series I seek to abstract form and function by blending the inherently disparate inner and outer layer of the book, challenging what it means to read, and questioning how much of the reading experience is generated by the book object or the critically engaged observer. The reader is invited to discover nuance in tone and form created by the act of alteration and burning, ultimately drawing their own interpretations of meaning. Themes that have emerged while producing this series have included humanity's relationship to the natural world, ecological cycles, and continual transformation.
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Put Your Hands Up
Mixed media
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Masked First Lady
Conte crayons, graphite pencils, India ink pens, and colored pencils
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Kayleen
Oil on canvasAs Covid-19 ravages the world and we are sheltered in place, I have felt despondent and afraid. To alleviate my anxiety I searched for sources of light in my life; I looked to people I admire, people who are strong and resilient, people who are adaptable and kind.
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In the Daylight
Acrylic on canvasOur bodies are remarkable and beautiful and we should celebrate them always. Yet, what I was craving above all during quarantine was genuine human connection: it's not just our bodies at night... it's what we see, feel and do in the daylight that matters most. And it's one of countless reasons why portraiture has remained a constant companion for me.
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Reflection
Acrylic on canvasThis time of quarantine looks different for everyone. I want to share a work that expresses the many emotions felt during this period of time.
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Peace Like a River
Adobe InDesign/Illustrator
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One of Life’s Certainties
April 2020, Digitally Colored Illustration
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Rainbow Trout
Acrylic on plywood
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UNG Visual Arts students, like so many across our country, in March went from going to classes and meeting up with friends to being isolated in their apartments and homes in quarantine. Everyone processes sudden changes in their own way; however, artists have a special method for expressing themselves. They turn to creativity.
These works were all created by Department of Visual Arts students during this time of isolation; some used art to reflect their mood, others reflected on life outside of the quarantine. Each art work represents the wide range of reactions of these UNG students to this remarkable time.
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Fortuna Loquitur
Clay and mixed media
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Mindchaser
Acrylic on Canvas
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Hope
Pencil, micron and watercolor on paper
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Pop Heart
Found objects
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Giant Bunny on a Magical Island
Mixed mediumI was inspired by my pet bunny, Cocoa, and my favorite genre, fantasy. He's sitting around a bunch of flowers in a forest of red and blue trees. It reminds me of Alice in Wonderland!
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Back to Nature
Ceramic GreenwareBack to nature is a group of three greenware wheel thrown pieces. It’s inspiration stems from Natalie’s time during quarantine during the Covid-19 outbreak. Natalie spent much of her outside studio time either in the kitchen, or out in nature, thus leading to her work back to nature. Due to lack of resources, pieces are neither bisque nor glaze fired.
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Zoom
Acrylic on canvasThese are the my classmates in film photography. Through Zoom, you glimpse into your peer's worlds. We are all living our own little individual lives, surviving, doing what it takes to make it each day. Each screen is a portal into a different place with its own personal style. We are all so different, and live so differently. Our lives look a lot different than they did a month ago. Zoom is a place that brings us all together when we are really so far apart.
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Finding Color in the Darkness
Oil on canvas
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Covid
AcrylicJolley painted this as the weight of his own upended life was compounded by those of his wife, an RN in the Atlanta region, and his daughter and son-in-law, both ICU doctors in New York City. His daughter was diagnosed with Covid-19 but had to return to work in the second week of her illness due to the crushing patient load and lack of physicians in the hard-hit New York City hospital districts.
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Daybreak
Digital paintingThis piece is about the wane of this whole pandemic. We are coming to exit of the forest as the sun begins to rise.
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Youth of the Quarantine 2020
Charcoal on paperThis is my son playing the Nintendo Switch. While on quarantine, he prefers to immerse himself into video games which I'm sure a lot of the youth is concurrently doing. More than ever, I feel that we are all connected electronically through many platforms to stay engaged with one another. While he is immersed, I wanted the viewer to feel immersed as well.
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Blindsided
Acrylic on canvasIn addition to attending UNG as a full-time art student, I also work full-time in the office of a grocery store. "Blindsided" is my interpretation of the current social dilemma of panic buying at grocery stores as well as the lengths at which some are going to avoid illness.
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6ft a-p-a-r-t
Digital photographThis self-portrait represents all of the anxiety and questions that circled through my mind as I transitioned from an active life to my isolated online life. I became overwhelmed. I have learned it is okay to hit pause and reset.
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I have come so that they may have life
Acrylic on black matte canvasCOVID-19 took summer camp and being a fourth year counselor away from me. Even so, I can hold fast onto the fact that I am a daughter to a God that gives life over and over again. His promises don’t dissipate regardless of my circumstances. There is something greater than camp or my own plans that he hasn’t revealed yet. This painting is a permanent reminder of that truth.
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Beck
Mixed Media
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Weaving at Home
Assorted wool and cotton yarns
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Bonnaroo
2015/2020, Watercolor and xerox transfer
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The End of Us
Acrylic paint and mixed media
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The Inflation Vortex
Designed in Tinkercard and 3-D printedThe Government’s $2Trillion+ gifts swirl about the Inflation Vortex as their purchasing value decays with the happy pork barrels in the background.
The dollars get smaller as time passes and disappear down the vortex of political self-centeredness, big government spending, and inflation.
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Explore each senior's capstone by viewing their Digication pages linked to their name.
Fall 2020
Summer 2020