Spring senior show opens April 19 in Fredonia’s Marion Art Gallery

“A Baker’s Dozen,” the Department of Visual Arts and New Media’s spring senior show, opens at the Cathy and Jesse Marion Art Gallery on Tuesday, April 19.

On display through May 10, the exhibition includes artwork by 13 graduating seniors: Hunter Bardin (Film and Video Arts), Mary Colligan (Graphic Design), Olivia Dursi (Graphic Design), Katy Fermin (Photography), Angeline Ginsberg (Ceramics), Matthew Henze (Film and Video Arts), Shannon Lynch (Drawing and Painting), Sean Marchant (Graphic Design), Owen McGuire (Photography), Francesca Olivo (Ceramics), Sadie Peers (Animation and Illustration), Jessie Stahlman (Graphic Design) and Wilson Thorpe (Graphic Design).

A reception is scheduled for Friday, April 22, from 6 to 9 p.m. The exhibition and reception are free and open to the public.

The visual style of Hunter Bardin’s short film “Phantasmagoria” is similar to that of paper puppetry and phantasmagoric theater where horrific creatures were projected large behind actors on the stage. With this film, Bardin explores how anxiety can manifest itself in a person’s mind and how bad thoughts creep up on us the more we dwell on the future.

Mary Colligan tackles the problem of wheelchair accessibility in her restaurant branding campaign “Common Grounds Café.” She writes, “There have been many times in my life where I was pulled up the stairs in my wheelchair just to get into a restaurant. The accessible entrances to some restaurants are in the back, which not only makes me feel like a second-class citizen, it is also awkward to navigate the crowded space to get to the front.”

Olivia Dursi’s series of posters tells the story of a fictional town, Pompay, N.Y., which has fallen victim to a disaster following a failed music festival, one which led to their military base falling in on itself, leaving no survivors. The story is inspired by her hometown of Rome, N.Y.

In her photographic series “Doll Face,” Katy Fermin addresses negative body image which is a serious problem that affects women's self-esteem. Barbie is undergoing plastic surgery on a monthly basis in the 15 photographs.

With interspecies ceramic sculptures of animals, Angeline Ginsberg represents the instinct of a mother to care for a baby even if it is not her own. Ginsberg writes, “The baby animals are lying down peacefully, knowing that their mother is on high alert, listening and ready to protect them at all costs. Although the animals may be raised by another species, through factors such as touch and scent, baby animals, similar to humans, understand who their mother is and trust her to protect and nourish them.”

In his interactive video installation titled “Production,” Matthew Henze allows gallery visitors to clean up the environment. The projected video is a forest littered with trash. As the viewers start to place more of the installation’s litter in a recycling bin, the video of garbage in the forest is gradually replaced by a clean flourishing forest.

Shannon Lynch’s painting series “Affect" includes nine diptychs about the journey of people in her life. She focuses on their inspirations and how they evolved and defined their lives from childhood to now.

Sean Marchant encapsulates his research on Fredonia’s Department of Visual Arts and New Media in his is original publication “TYPO Magazine.” He writes, “I want people to share how they feel about their experiences with VANM so that we may grow as a department. I want students and faculty to feel like this is a home and not just a place to work. This is one of the longest running projects I have had the honor of working on. My hope is that this will be more than a single-issue magazine.”

Through long photographic exposures and large format prints, Owen McGuire documents the natural occurrences of phenomena at night such as lightning, cloud coverage, snow, rain, moon phases and shooting stars.

Francesca Olivo explores how humans connect with each other and nature with her handmade coffee table and ceramic tea set. She writes, “Our connections with other people are vital. We are also inherently connected to the earth. Flowers help us feel connected to our world. We trim them from the earth and bring them inside to temporarily bask in their beauty.”

“Walter and Willow,” a children’s book written and illustrated by Sadie Peers, features a tale about the connection between a grandfather and granddaughter. The story addresses the importance of family, community, and small “golden” moments.

Using the “Princess of Pentacles” and "Queen of Swords” cards, Jessie Stahlman investigates the visual language of tarot cards and their identity and iconography as a deck. Posters and paper crafted head pieces represent the two personas.

Wilson Thorpe’s installation “SWAP” is a store to fight textile waste. Posters advertise the store and pamphlets outline this critical issue. A rack of mended (recycled) clothing demonstrates the solution. The average American throws away around 82 pounds of clothes every year and globally over a 100 million tons of textile waste is created each year.

“A Baker’s Dozen” is supported by the Department of Visual Arts and New Media, Fredonia College Foundation’s Cathy and Jesse Marion Endowment Fund, and the Friends of Rockefeller Arts Center.

Gallery hours are: Tuesday through Thursday noon to 4 p.m., Friday and Saturday noon to 6 p.m., Sunday noon to 4 p.m. and by appointment. The gallery is located on the main level of Rockefeller Arts Center.

For more information or a group tour of the exhibition, contact gallery director Barbara Räcker at 716-673-4897 or via email.