Marion Art Gallery to host new exhibition of Fredonia student works

Works created by 12 graduating seniors of the Department of Visual Arts and New Media will be on display in an exhibition opening on Friday, April 29 in the Cathy and Jesse Marion Art Gallery.

The exhibition, titled “Senior Show 2,” opens with a reception from 7 to 9 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Participants, listed according to their concentrations, are: Animation and Illustration – Kimberly Decker, Anna Gilmore, GiAnna Ligammari and Zachary Tietje; Graphic Design – Anna Dambacher, Connor Hayward, Chloe Muether and Kelsey Rossignol; Sculpture – Heather Radford and Eric Ryberg; Photography – Maegan Clark; and Video – Kayla Batson.

Gallery Director Barbara Räcker said the diverse exhibition includes illustrations, animations, a three-channel video, a board game prototype, a handmade paper installation, wood and brick sculptures and a new app.

In her video, Batson uses microscopic images to represent the awareness of instability at the moment anxiety occurs. In her photographic installation called “Under Exposed,” Clark addresses the representation – or the lack thereof – of the Marginalized Orientations, Gender Identity, and Intersex community by creating a fictional musical band that identifies with the MOGII community. Dambacher focuses on band merchandising and branding, with various mediums including illustration, screen printed merchandise and a website.

Decker’s animation “My Bean and Mabel” is a surreal narrative of a girl looking for something in a paper house that she will never find. Gilmore’s “Rottimorti” is a 2D animation focusing on character design and narrative. Her second stop motion animation, “Night’s Mirror,” is about coming to terms with uncertainty.

Hayward examines the State University of New York at Fredonia through a magazine spread he created after surveying students. Ligammari’s animation and comic book feature a headless character trying to attach “selves” to her body that seem right. Along the way she meets characters that have their own missing pieces and together they try to help each other heal. Muether will introduce a new app called “WeatherIT” which makes it easier for people to instantly access current weather conditions wherever they are located.

Radford’s sculpture uses alternative, abstracted book forms to address “the mutable nature of information dissemination, memories and a sense of place in our current world.” In Rossignol’s version of the board game “Clue,” high school stereotypes are used to address the issue of social alienation (demise of a healthy society) caused by the overabundance of mobile devices and social media.

Ryberg’s wood and brick sculptures are about the relationship of man-made and natural objects, as well as the passing of time represented by weathered bricks and driftwood. In his illustrations titled “Conversations,” Tietje recounts events, stories and objects that he cherishes.

“Senior Show 2” is also supported by the Fredonia College Foundation’s Cathy and Jesse Marion Endowment Fund. The exhibition will be on display through May 6.

Gallery hours are noon to 4 p.m. from Tuesday through Thursday, noon to 6 p.m. Friday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday. For more information or a group tour of the exhibition contact Ms. Räcker at barbara.racker@fredonia.edu or 716-673-4897.