(Photo: Emily Schneider)
By: Andrianna Veatch, Staff Reporter
Currently on display at the O’Sullivan Art Gallery is a widespread eclectic sample of art and artists, ranging from Michael Campbell's’ delicate colored-pencil pictures of the Wildflowers of Burren to Robert St. John’s 3-dimensional The Ozymandias Project. Botanists, gardeners, and other nature lovers on campus will be delighted to know that the overarching general theme of the exhibit is flowers, though that is by no means the sole subject of the display. At this time, the gallery is full of wonderland-like imagery, though special mention must go to Judy Gardener’s pieces: Lotus Position and Succulence, gorgeous 3-dimensional reliefs printed in plastic and delicately tinted with acrylic. The artist herself notes her taste in floral subjects, saying “I often find myself drawn to botanical forms because of the complexity and elegance of the shapes. The connection between plant forms and the concepts of sacred geometry has intrigued humanity for eons and given rise to many mystical traditions. Plants somehow manage to follow strict sets of mathematical rules … they never appear rigid or formulaic.” Neither will Gardener’s works, who (living up to her name) perfectly cultivates an air of floral greenery that twists and curves in living color.
Befitting the Halloween air of unease this week, and departing from the broad theme of flowers (at least in thought if not in design), Bonnie Ferrill Roman’s statue, titled Zoonosis, captures the idea of disease. According to the artist, the piece was born “…as a response to new stories regarding an outbreak of Ebola in Africa last year, and how the disease likely migrated to humans from one or several species of monkeys” (Roman). Carefully crafted felt-covered “lilies” bleed red wool fiber into a dropping cluster of half-shell “cells,” all contributing to the visual conception of this spreading infection. The statue stands alone on the floor, an uneasy and unnerving testimony to the infectiousness of ideas and human progression.
Like a thematic greenhouse of commercial flowers, the current Regis O’Sullivan Gallery display contains a wide variety of art styles and samples that will appeal to the favorite tastes of its student patrons, continuing to dazzle and amaze with fresh and unique stylistic designs.