Graphic design and sculpture “My whole series is inspired by the civil war in Uganda from 1986-2006. In my senior statement I talk about pilgrimage and how it’s not to change the world but to change oneself. So in ‘07 when I was about to go to college, my mother told me to go to the north part of Uganda where the war had happened to see where it had happened. No one wants to go to a place that just got out of a two-decade long war, but I decided still to see for myself. I saw massive places...

By Penina Acayu • April 20, 2011 • Arts

Drawing I enjoy trying to depict things realistically, but I also like being free and a little bit loose with interpretations. I like drawing figures and objects with interest and variety and a lot of areas that you can focus on. I’m actually starting to realize that it’s really helpful to have objects in front of you, and my drawings benefit from that. I can draw abstractly or with my personal drawing style. Drawing from an object doesn’t mean I have to stick to simply rendering it but it does give it more validity. Simply rendering it makes the drawing...

By Laurel Woodward • April 13, 2011 • Arts

Alex Caskey, Ceramics The reason why I decided on salmon and fish images is because of my fascination with the ridiculous things they go through just to die.  And just thinking about how complex we make life. Life could be a seven or eight mile journey that we end up just dying for. I think we idealize nature a lot. Walking through the woods on a cloudy day in March could be just as beautiful as something like an idealized image of mountains or something. That’s why they—the fish that fought to get upstream—are almost more beautiful because of what...

By Alex Caskey • April 5, 2011 • Arts

Ingrid Derstine, printmaking and jewelry “A lot of times I will use a photo as a base for my prints, sometimes it is obvious that it’s representational and sometimes it’s not so much. Often the photos are ones that I have taken, usually while I am traveling. The photos I use for printmaking all usually have a pretty unusual visual texture. Visual texture is like a silhouette of a bunch of leaves against the sky, you see it all together but you don’t realize its leaves so all you see is this texture.  Like the texture on this ring is...

By Liz Core • March 31, 2011 • Arts

Abe Stucky Sophomore, Art and Physics Double Major My first encounter with clay happened around 2nd grade while I was home-schooled.  My mom bought a chunk of clay that I remember shaping and forming into various objects.  I have always loved working with my hands, whether it be stained glass making, guitar playing, or carpentry projects.  I think this is also why I have enjoyed ceramics so much. I am most inspired by artwork that is clever or art that makes me smile. I am interested in creating pieces that are both functional and recognizable. I am inspired by things found...

By Liz Core • March 23, 2011 • Arts

Jordan Kauffman Senior Art Major Title of Piece: Spring Forms “In sculpture I have found a refreshing release that allows me to focus on the experimenting and playing rather than the message of the finished piece.” “I am interested in exploring the sense of balance, both visual and physical. I want the viewer to ask how a piece is standing and not falling over. I strongly believe that the viewer is an important part of an art piece and believe that the connections between a piece and the viewer are important. It is my goal to create something that the...

By Jordan Kauffman • March 15, 2011 • Arts

Emma Brooks Graphic Design “I kind of think of design like a puzzle. There are so many options that you could do. Tons of ideas. There are so many things out there and you have to pick just one to three and just fit them together. Then you have to fit the design, lay it out, put in the type and fit them together to make them look good. It’s an interesting problem solving thing. A design solution.”

By Liz Core • March 10, 2011 • Arts

“I absorb things from art history and things I’m learning about, like a lot of the realistic artists throughout time. I think I have a pretty broad appreciation for graphic novels.  I really like the combination of text and imagery, having words fit together and having the visual add meaning to the words.” Hannah Sandvold, a sophomore art major, is an accomplished graphic designer. Already having been commissioned to design for various organization logos and advertising, she hopes to pursue design through illustrating children’s books in the future.

By Liz Core • February 22, 2011 • Arts

“cracked or fragmented jagg’d edges on a bed i’m afloat broke stone song sieze your toking color coordination marry horoscope for loneliness compatible gal isn’t there till he’s thrown like a stone” “I love writing that’s not exacted, because that’s not how most people think. It’s less edited. It seems more authentic that way. And I love silence, actually. I guess that’s another weird thing about music. If you’re creating something isn’t any better than absolute silence – and I’m saying that as a person who loves absolute silence – you have no business creating it in the first place.”...

By Lauren Treiber • February 15, 2011 • Arts

“I don’t think of myself as an artist, I think of the mechanics of it. It makes me understand why people who want to know how things work want to know. It’s a part of me that I didn’t know I had until I knit and then I noticed ‘oh, I do care.’” “Knitting is stress that I can control. It’s something to do with my hands.  I can never not have a project going. ”

By Elspeth Stalter • February 2, 2011 • Arts

“I often doodle when I need something concrete to focus on. There’s a lot of circles. Circles that turn into curves, contrasted by straight lines. Often they take the shape of a woman’s body. Recently, I’ve started doing more images that tend to be whimsical, bizarre or often they’ll be mysterious looking creatures. With the creatures, I think about everybody’s innate thoughts and fears that aren’t shown on the outside. The crazy little creatures that are in all of us that you don’t often get to see.”

By Becca Yoder • January 26, 2011 • Arts

“My grandma is a quilter, so I have always loved fabric and sewing. Later on I would see things at the store and think to myself, ‘I could make that’ and so I just started trying to make things for myself’. [I’m inspired by] anything and everything. I love street fashion and seeing what other people are wearing and how they combine different pieces that seem unusual but as a whole fit together perfectly.” – Jess Sprunger Q & A with the artist: What interested you in fashion design? Well my grandma is a quilter so I have always loved...

By Liz Core • January 20, 2011 • Arts

“This summer I was up north and I took a bunch of pictures,”  says senior art major Elizabeth Gunden, “and I took this one photo of a milkweed pod that I really liked.” Our Artist of the Week explains how that particular photo inspired her oil painting. “Sometimes my inspirations come from photos, other times I’ll paint on location. I like to have some sort of connection with what I paint.” Gunden describes her painting as a “high contrast, really dark, really light, abstract interpretation” of the original photo. She explains that this semester she’s been trying different forms of painting,...

By Anita Fonseca • November 17, 2010 • Arts

They say artists can find inspiration in everything, and that’s certainly the case of sophomore Tim Landes. Over fall break, Landes visited Windsor, Canada and met a man that later inspired him to do a sculpture piece. “I saw this really old man,” said Landes. “He had a giant mustache, a big nose, and crazy-looking eyes.  I asked him if I could take his picture and all he said to me was, ‘I don’t speak English very well’ and then kept walking, looking into the distance,” said Landes. The man’s appearance and response intrigued Landes. Although Landes admits to not...

By Anita Fonseca • November 3, 2010 • Arts

Ducks and mugs are not a very common combination, but Aspen Schmidt, a sophomore majoring in Youth Ministry, turned that around. For her ceramics class she was asked to make artwork combining subjects that were somehow similar and different at the same time. Inspired by a giraffe mug that she owns, she decided to create three mugs influenced by three different animals: a penguin, a toucan and the duck. All of them are made of clay. The penguin mug has the animal carved into the piece and the toucan mug has the beak of the toucan extending out of the...

By Anita Fonseca • October 27, 2010 • Arts