Mathew Guerrero, pictured with the portraits from his “Familial” series, and Kaylee Gabalski, pictured with her stop-motion animation and mixed media cut-outs titled, “Bells of War,” were selected for awards as part of the “Hodge Podge” exhibition.
Two student artists earned awards for their works in an exhibition at the State University of New York at Fredonia.
Kaylee Gabalski, an Animation and Illustration major from Jamestown, NY, earned the President’s Award and Mathew Guerrero, an Animation and Illustration major from Long Island, NY, received the Cathy and Jesse Marion Art Gallery Award.
The awards were sponsored by the President’s Office and the Fredonia College Foundation’s Cathy and Jesse Marion Endowment Fund, respectively.
Gabalski created a stop-motion animation and mixed media piece with cut-outs titled “Bells of War.” Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Andy Karafa selected Gabalski’s work for the President’s Award describing it as “striking in a number of ways.”
“The use of mixed media heightened its impact, significantly increasing the viewers’ engagement with the music,” Dr. Karfa said. “The animation does a great job of highlighting the societal distress and division we now face. As noted on the placard next to the video, it effectively offers visual symbolism to capture a ‘swirling mess of loyalty, trust, betrayal, and dissent…’ I think it resonates with many of us, as we see ourselves, or close others, feeling a sense of alienation from the very institutions established to offer stability and safety. The fact that schools, for example, are no longer safe places for those with questionable immigration status, identities that do not fit neatly into a limited number of boxes, and those that simply see our return to a Jim Crow-like status quo.”
Guerrero’s “Familial” series of acrylic and oil on panel paintings was selected for the Marion Art Gallery Award by Gallery Director Barbara Räcker. She cited the paintings’ formal and expressive qualities.
“I am impressed with the originality and craftsmanship of Mathew Guerrero’s six portraits from his ‘Familial’ series. These are not just portraits; they are intimate stories captured with incredible skill,” Räcker said. “Their expressiveness underscores Mathew’s anxiety about shifting family dynamics after being away at college. He combines realism and abstraction, sharp details and opacity, to create a distinctive style. The ‘Familial’ paintings are heartfelt and memorable. They do more than merely represent likenesses; they capture the emotional essence, bonds, and shared history of a family.”
The awards were selected in conjunction with the spring senior art show, titled “Hodge Podge,” which ran from May 1 to 10 in the Cathy and Jesse Mation Art Gallery on the Fredonia campus.
The exhibition included paintings, animated short films (stop motion, 2D, and rotoscope), animatics, character designs and concept art for animation, mixed media sculpture, ceramic installations, and a puppet installation. Eighteen graduating seniors presented works in the exhibition.
The artists chose the title “Hodge Podge” because it embodies the concept of diversity and disorder. Its 15th century origin is “hochepot,” a thick stew of various ingredients, which paved the way for its modern usage in describing a chaotic mixture of elements.
“Hodge Podge” was supported by the Department of Visual Arts and New Media and the Fredonia College Foundation’s Cathy and Jesse Marion Endowment Fund.
