At the UCF Finals at the UCF Art Gallery (12400 Aquarius Agora Dr. Visual Arts Building 140 Orlando, FL) each masters art student would speak about their work in turn. Once a presentation was finished, another artist would present in front of their work and everyone would move their folding chairs to the new location.
In this sketch an artist is presenting her digital painting on a large screen TV on the back wall. Her work has a classical feel tying into ancient myths. I was impressed with her highly polished work and her explanation of where her work was going. Since I am often working digitally I appreciated her accomplishments in the medium. To me the medium isn’t as important as the message and her message resonates. When it came time for questions from the audience, a professor cut into her work hard saying it looked to much like other polished digital art. There was a clear bias against the use of the digital medium. No other artist was presenting work that was digital. To me, this bias seemed unfounded and the artist defended her work with absolute grace. Her defense proves that she has a message that will resonate in the future.
The B-29 Super-fortress is also visible in the sketch. I decided to have it visible in each sketch I did.
Colorful soft sculptures cover one wall. These are done by Abigail (@artby.AMF) a female artist whose work was largely about women’s reproductive issues. The multi media work glows with bright pinks and reds. For some women the egg does not make the journey down the Fallopian tubes each month. This would result in the woman not having a period for that month. The eggs just congregate in the ovary like pearls. I say that since some of her soft form sculptures have pearls sewn onto the ovaries. The conversation was fascinating and her work helps bring to light issues that even many doctors are unfamiliar with.
In the center of the room were painting that are about the all too common school shootings which happen in America. A large dark painting showed school children evacuating the school. None of the paintings show the grisly details of the shooting but they intend to keep the issue in the forefront of people’s minds. The question arose about where the work should be shown. One person suggested the work should be shown guerilla style on the streets rather than in galleries or museums. I know work has been shown in U-Hauls or driven around billboard style on the side of trucks.
Since I have sketched so many of the survivors and family of those shot at the Pulse Nightclub massacre, I identified with the work. The rest of the world is shocked at how crazy America is to allow children to be shooting children. In America the insane solution seems to be more guns. In March 2013, a former UCF student, James Seevakumaran, planned a mass shooting in a campus dorm, which was thwarted, resulting in his suicide.