Creative perspectives through the eyes of five young artists are presented in a new exhibit at University of Wisconsin-Stout’s Furlong Gallery.
Selected works from recent School of Art and Design graduates are featured in Can I Sit Here? The exhibit runs through Monday, March 29.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the gallery is not open to the public. A slideshow has been created, featuring work by University Photographer Chris Cooper, to allow the public to see the exhibit.
The alum exhibiting are Jacob Docksey, 2017 graduate; Claire Kayser, 2017; Tiffany Lange, 2016; Dustin Steuck, 2017; and Andy Wieland, 2017. Except for Wieland, entertainment design, the others graduated in studio art with various concentrations.
Professor Robert Atwell, the Furlong Gallery director, is pleased to “highlight the successes of these young artists to our current students as strong examples of what one can achieve after they graduate.”
The alum are doing well in a challenging environment. “With the pandemic, the art world has been limited and exceedingly difficult for artists around the world, especially young artists. These five alum have shown that they are actively engaged and have hustled to find and make opportunities,” Atwell said.
Their works on display include an exploration of Midwestern family craft traditions; enigmatic comic narratives; vinyl and fabric installations with a twist; and oil paintings that blur fantasy and reality.
- Docksey, a native of Chippewa Falls living in St. Paul, paints “spaces where objects are assembled to perform supernatural functions. My paintings serve as a documentation capturing an impressionistic portrayal.”
- Kayser, of Minneapolis, uses fabric in her installations to examine “the synthetic treatment applied to self, acting as a covering to hide the surface beneath, much like a connected skin or shell.”
- Lange, of St. Paul, is “interested in the intermingling of mark-making through paint and manipulation of synthetic textile. This series represents a time of disorder and false positivity through a socially distant year.”
- Steuck, of Minneapolis, is a “performance-based moving-image installation artist” who “explores queer narratives while integrating utopic theory influenced by digital platforms and historical imagery.”
- Wieland, a native of Menomonie living in St. Paul, has self-published two comics. “My approaches to comics vary from autobiographical, linear storytelling to more abstract, absurd and surreal.”
The artists have exhibited regionally and nationally.
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