Bradbury Gallery hosts graduating art student exhibition
- Ongoing: until Friday, March 19, 2010
- Sunday: 2:00pm
- Tuesday: 12:00pm
- Wednesday: 12:00pm
- Thursday: 12:00pm
- Friday: 12:00pm
- Saturday: 12:00pm
- Where: Arkansas State University, Jonesboro
- Cost: Free
- Age limit: Not available
Bradbury Gallery hosts graduating art student
exhibition March 4
The Bradbury Gallery will host the first of two spring
exhibitions featuring graduating seniors from the Arkansas State
University Department of Art, opening Thursday, March 4, at 5 p.m. The
Bradbury Gallery is located in Fowler Center, 201 Olympic Drive,
Jonesboro. Included in the Spring 2010 Senior Exhibition, Part I, will
be Megan Collins, Jake Gambill, Lamar Jackson, and Shannon Smithee. The
exhibition runs through Friday, April 2, and it is free and open to the
public.
Born and raised in Paragould, Megan Collins grew up around
creative women and encouraging family who inspired her to spend her life
in the arts. This May, she will earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with
an emphasis in drawing and painting. While attending ASU, Collins was a
member of many organizations and received numerous accolades. She was
the studio art student representative for the Infrastructure committee,
the president of the Printmaking Club, and a member of the Art Student
Union. Twice she attended the Southern Graphics Council conference, was
awarded three Art Department scholarships, a Friends of the Arts
Material Award scholarship, four Arkansas Academic Challenge
scholarships, four Dean's scholarships, and a Greene County scholarship.
She was also repeatedly included on the Chancellor's and Dean's Lists.
Aside from her many academic achievements, she also exhibited several
times in the ASU Printmaking Gallery and in the Art Student Union juried
exhibitions, receiving an honorable mention on two occasions. Her work
was purchased by the ASU Foundation and received the Brooks Museum's
Mid-South Scholastic Art Awards Scholarship Golden Key Award.
Themes of heirlooms, sewing, and the places around her will be
seen in Collins' work in the exhibition. After graduation, she will
attend graduate school at Washington University in St. Louis, working to
obtain a Master of Fine Arts degree.
Jake Gambill, born in Jonesboro, will graduate with a Bachelor
of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis in painting this August. Just prior
to graduating, he will attend the ASU Department of Art study abroad
program in Florence, Italy. He participated in several exhibitions at
ASU, including the 2007, 2008, and 2009 Art Student Union juried
exhibitions, receiving an honorable mention this past year. He was also
a member of the Art Student Union from 2008 to the present.
In discussing his work, Gambill says, "I find that the modern
world has become too streamlined and mass produced. Everyday items,
phones, radios, appliances, even buildings and cars, have come to favor
function over form. I seek to remove my creations from the sterile,
mundane place that our world has become. In my travels, as well as my
artwork, I seek out the less-trodden paths. I love the old roads, the
abandoned towns, the seedy attractions, and the roadside carnivals of
the early twentieth century. I cherish the charm in these seedy, old,
outmoded, overlooked, and decaying remnants of the past, and I strive to
produce pieces which reflect this kitschy, forgotten beauty."
After graduation, he plans to attend graduate school and pursue
his career as an artist.
Lamar Jackson, who is from Lexa, Arkansas, will graduate this
May and receive a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis in
graphic design and a minor in studio art. As a student, Jackson was a
member of several organizations including the ASU Printmaking Club and
the Art Student Union, serving as the treasurer in 2006 and 2007; the
ASU Library committee; the ASU AIGA student group, serving as president
from 2007 to 2009; the Department of Fine Art Grievance committee, and
the Visiting Artist and Scholars committee, serving as a student
representative. Jackson also received a Dean's scholarship, two ASU Art
scholarships, and an Arkansas Department of Higher Education research
grant. He participated in the 2009 ASU AIGA design show, exhibited in
the 2009 ASU juried student exhibition, and was on the 2009 Dean's List.
Shannon Smithee, from Jonesboro, began college at the University
of Alaska, Anchorage, where she interned at the International Gallery of
Contemporary Art. She transferred to ASU in 2005 and this May will
receive a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis in sculpture.
While at ASU, she participated in the Department of Art study abroad
program in Florence, Italy, served as secretary and then president of
the Art Student Union, as student representative for the ASU Fine Arts
Center Gallery, and she earned an ASU Art Department scholarship. Her
work has been included in an exhibition at Studio 303 on Main Street in
Jonesboro and in the 2005 through 2009 Art Student Union juried
exhibitions, where in 2009 she received a juror's award for her body of
work.
In discussing her work, Smithee states that, "I do not have a
single driving force behind my work but recently my concern for the
world and a desire to make a difference have emerged as topics. As an
optimist, I want to believe that it is possible for individuals to make
a difference, but reality makes it hard to remain optimistic in our
turbulent world." Currently, she is an assistant at the Bradbury Gallery
and teaches art at the Foundation of Arts. After graduation, Smithee
plans to travel and pursue a graduate degree in art.
The Bradbury Gallery will observe the ASU spring break and will
close from March 20 through March 29. Bradbury Gallery hours are noon to
5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, and 2-5 p.m. on Sunday. The exhibition
is free and open to the public. For additional information, contact Les
Christensen, director of the Bradbury Gallery, at
lchristensen@astate.edu, or call the Bradbury Gallery at (870) 972-2567.
This event was posted Feb. 28, 2010 and last updated March 2, 2010