By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
The opening of “Apexes,” the exhibit highlighting the work of graduating Master of Fine Arts students, marks the end of the academic year at BGSU.
The show is aptly titled. The work here represents the apex of the visions these artists have been pursuing.
This year’s exhibit features seven artists: Jordan Vigil, Elaheh Afroozan, Gazelle Dasti, Erin Main, Elizabeth M. Meadows, Laura Rose Graham, and Amy Beeler. The show continues through April 22. Gallery hours are Tuesday – Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.and Sundav 1 – 4 p.m.
The range of work is broad. Meadows’ hyper-autobiographical installation to Amy Beeler’s finely crafted sculptural jewelry made from clothesline.
Meadows includes everything from household items, a row of handmade dresses, and casts of her body parts as well as an X-ray in her installation. All this is centered on a train of carts hooked to her electronic chair. The piece is a documentation of an artist determine to pursue her creativity in spite of chronic health issues and the challenges of being a single mother with limited financial means.
Erin Main tells another story in her animated video “Purrseverance.” The story of an abandoned cat who finds love and support.
In her artistic statement Main says she wants to create “stories that emotionally and intellectually resonate with audiences fostering, connections across diverse backgrounds. … As an artist I invite viewers to contemplate the profound interplay of love and discomfort in shaping our lives.”
Elaheh Afroozan uses video in a very different way in her installation “Resilience” in the Red Door Gallery.
Afroozan reflects that she grew up in a repressive society in Iran, but that repression is not confined to a place or time.
“Resilience,” she writes in her statement, “evolved from my very personal drawings that I used to channel my feelings rage, sadness, and shame as a result of the suppression of sexual feelings and emotions. In this interactive installation, the presence of a sympathetic viewer sets healing in motion.”
One video shows scenes from BGSU that she decorates with drawings of sexual nature.
Gazelle Dasti’s “Grey Matter” occupies the Wankelman Gallery. A human head glows in green, reacting to sound. It reflects the interaction between “the industrial and the intellectual, the material and the ethereal,” the artist writes.
In “Since Forever,” Laura Roe Graham creates abstract representations of her own memories. “They reflect a timeline of my life, including traumatic memories alongside peaceful, powerful memories.”
The display includes necklaces and a paper quilt that are memorials to loved ones. She also has small sculptures meant, she writes in her statement, “to be handled as one would a rosary.”
Many included knitted elements. Knitting, she writes, for her a “meditative grounding practice.”
Jordan Vigil draws on the ancient traditions of the West – she grew up in Denver. Inspired by Latin American printmaking tradition she views her work as a form of political resistance.
Vigil invites the viewer to: “Join me in this dance of creation and reflection , where past, present and future converge in a timeless embrace, heart to heart, eye to eye.”
Beeler should be familiar to fans of the Black Swamp Arts Festival. She’s a frequent exhibitor who has won several honors including Best of Show for her nature inspired jewelry.
Her work took a different direction when she returned to BGSU to earned her MFA. Now she creates elaborate constructions with clothesline. They evoke, she writes in her statement, time spent with multiple generations of family, connected by simple domestic chores like doing laundry.
“Combining these personal reflections with my artistic process, I delve into the significance of domestic practices and their impact on family bonds across generations. I invite viewers to contemplate their own family traditions through active engagement in a sensory experience that moves beyond the visual to involve touch and smell.”
A table in the gallery allows viewers to handle clothesline themselves.
“My aim is to capture the essence of these domestic traditions and reveal the beauty and significance embedded within everyday moments,” she concludes. “By visualizing their enduring relevance in our lives, I hope to encourage a deeper appreciation for the ties that bind us to our past and present.”
