By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent Media
Kai Lee Liu has time on her side.
The Bowling Green State University art major junior already has had her work included in international exhibits.
Sunday at the opening of the Undergraduate Art Exhibit on campus she got some hometown love to go with it.
Her video installation won the Medici Circle Best of Show Award and her piece “Time Is Passing Because Of People” won first prize in ceramics.
Faculty member Leigh-Ann Pahapill, who Liu said was her “inspiration,” said that the young artist had great prospects. That’s evident from pieces being selected for shows in Dubai and China.
Standing near her prize-winning ceramic piece, done under the tutelage of John Balistreri, Liu talked about the concept behind it. Time exists, yet it is people who give it meaning. The two towering sections of the piece evoke a canyon. The viewer feels small next to them. The piece opens up on one side, with a narrower opening on the other. Nearby is a small companion piece. This play on scale changes the way the viewer perceives their sense of scale and time, Liu said.
The installation has an 18-minute video of nature scenes, including a looming moon and cascading waves, marking the passage of a day that is viewed through a thicket of glass tubes.
Liu said the idea was to animate the glass as it catches the reflections of light from the video.
University music student Nicholas Taylor provided the ambient score for the piece. He noted that his collaborator had submitted five pieces for inclusion in the show. Four were accepted. Liu also has another ceramic piece and a video also on display.
In introducing the awards, faculty member Charles Kanwischer said that for all 89 exhibitors inclusion in the show was a mark of success. “It’s a validation of all that work you’ve produced.”
Exhibiting in the show should “fill you with confidence on that journey from student to artist.”
Among the dozens of awards announced Sunday were those selected by the external jurors Brian Spolans, of Eastern Michigan, and Sophia Brueckner, of the University of Michigan.
In addition to the best of show, the jurors honored:
• Madison Walsh and Mark Cooper, Alumni Association Award
• Cara Taylor, Main Street Photo Award
• Anatasia Baker, Marietta Kirschner Wigg Print Award.
• Madison Walsh, Ringholz Art Supply Award 2D.
• Alexis Hartel, Ringholz Art Supply Award 3D.
See complete list of winners at: http://bgindependentmedia.org/2016/02/09/415/
