By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
More than a decade after graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Toledo, Jennifer Marcson was still passionate about art.
In the intervening years she has worked as a paramedic, which she continues to do part-time. But she decided to return to get a Master of Fine Arts from Bowling Green State University.
“I basically got back into art because I couldn’t stop making art,” Marcson said. “I wanted to get a better studio practice and get more in depth with the meaning of the pieces rather than just making something pretty.”
She graduated last spring and teaches part-time in the School of Art’s first-year program.
Three of the Bowling Green artist’s works are now on display as part of the NowOH Winner’s Circle Art Exhibition in the Four Corners Center in downtown Bowling Green. The exhibit, which features 10 winning artists from this summer’s NowOH Art Exhibition, opened Friday night and continues during weekday business hours through Oct. 25.
Among Marcson’s pieces is “Internalization III,” the Best of Show from the summer NowOH exhibit.
The piece is a necklace that looks sort of like a stethoscope. Two pieces fit in the ears, while another fingerlike piece rests on the throat. The necklace is displayed along with a photo of Marcson’s mother Chris Nickey modeling it.
“The photograph is meant to elicit an empathetic reaction from the viewer,” Marcson said, “so the viewer will put themselves in the place of the wearer, so they’ll feel the pressure on the ears, feel the little bit of pressure on the throat.”
The piece reflects on “roles women are put into in society and internalizing things that maybe aren’t so positive.” Throughout their lives “a woman is expected to look a certain way, act a certain way. That could be harmful.”
Another piece, “Micro-aggressions,” also addresses “street harassment” that women endure. This creates a psychological weight.
The piece has an assemblage of fist-size, oddly shaped pieces of fired porcelain, dangling from vintage chains that in turn hang from bra straps draped around a mannikin’s neck.
The piece, Marcson explained, was created by squeezing porcelain clay in her fist. “Different amounts of clay, different amounts of pressure create different forms.”
“Micro-aggressions” represents the “visceral reaction” to that kind of harassment
“It’s kind of a hard form. It doesn’t look flexible. There’s a kind of fossilization that happens to this stuff. This is a material that will last forever,” she said. “Those emotions, those reactions don’t go away easily.”
The third piece is “Absence/Presence,” a collection of copper fingers. Anatomy was one of her favorite subjects, Marcson said.
Using the molding material used for dental work, she made impressions of her own fingers, and those of family members, friends, and even total strangers. She then applied copper paint and then electro-plates it.
Twenty-five fingers are on display. That’s about half of what she’s made. She likes the variety. The shape of the finger reveals something about the person. A life of manual labor leaves its mark. Arthritis shapes the finger. There are fingers of people, of all ages and genders.
Those fingers, arranged in a case, look creepy. The artist wants that weirdness to draw in viewers.
“I’ve been doing art forever,” she said. “I grew up went to Saturday morning art program at BGSU.” Then at BG High School she studied art with Becky Laabs, all the way through the senior studio art experience.
At UT, Marcson majored in painting with a minor in metalsmithing as well as studies in photography.
She wanted to focus on metalsmithing for her graduate work because it is tactile. “You think the metal is very inflexible. If you know how to treat it right, it’s a very flexible medium to work in.”
It requires mastery of a variety of techniques, she said, and close attention to detail.
Marcson studied with Tom Muir, who also has work in the show. “He has a lot of technical expertise,” but he also knows how to develop the underlying concept of the work. “He’s really strong in both those areas. I really enjoyed studying with him.”
Other artists with work on display are: Emily Averitt, Sarah Compton, Ileana Herrera, Adwowa Obeng-Osei, Joel O’Dorisio, Kim Turner-Young, and Isabel Zeng.
