Artwork lines the walls in preparation for the Visual Arts Alumni Exhibition in the Visual Arts Gallery in Hayden Hall.
The exhibition features 23 visual arts alumni representing a 50-year range of alumni artists from 1960 up to 2010. The works of art include drawings, painting, printmaking, computer graphics, mixed media, sculptures and digital paintings. The exhibit is free and open to the public.
Participating artists took the initiative to make this exhibit happen. All of the exhibitors contributed their work at their own expense and will attend at their own expense.
There will be an artist’s market at the same time as the opening reception Oct. 4 from 6 p.m.-8 p.m. The exhibiting artists, faculty, and art majors will have prints, posters, and postcards available for purchase at the artist’s market. All of the proceeds from the sale of posters of the exhibition invitation will go towards creating a scholarship for art majors and support for gallery programs. The program will also include spoken word performances.
The exhibition will be open from Oct. 5- Nov. 18, Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m.- 4 p.m.; featuring borrowed artwork from The Louisiana State Art Museum. The borrowed art includes Charles E. Siler’s piece “KozmikRootzMusik” a tribute to Alvin Batiste, founder of the Jazz Institute program at Southern University Baton Rouge.
“A Good Afternoon was purely an aesthetic piece that incorporated foreground and background,” said Jared Alcorn. Alcorn contributed two colored pencil on illustration board pieces that convey strong messages towards the views of the world and aesthetics. Alcorn continued, “The view of a young black male shows how society views the average black male. With a target on his genitalia to stop him from reproducing rather than to kill him.”
Rodrick Minor a Fall 2008 graduate presented his work “Rotten Fruits in my Southern Garden,” a work trying to convey the message of the inhumane treatment of African Americans in the south. “I was playing off of ‘Strange Fruit’ using a photo collage and the lyrics to show how during a certain time African Americans were treated inhumanely,” said Minor.
Jazzlyn Whitfield also provided a lino-cut work called ” One lock strand”; a piece about unity in the community and sticking together. “It is a process that when done right comes out awesome. It was carved on a linoleum pad with eleven colors done one by one. It took about 24 hours straight to finish,” said Whitfield.
Twenty of the artists represent Louisiana cities but, some have transported their work and are participating from as far as Los Angeles. There is one international artist from Tehran, Iran.
Jared Alcorn stands between "A Good Afternoon", left and "View of a Young Black Male" both are colored pencil on illustration board.