The University of Central Florida’s Art Gallery began its annual Faculty Exhibition on Thursday.
The exhibit features the work of about 30 faculty members from the School of Visual Arts and Design and allows students and the local community to learn about the professional abilities of UCF’s staff.
“Artwork, for anyone, is a depth of soul,” Collections Manager Kayla Hernandez said. “To be able to get a perspective of your professor or faculty member that’s not figurative, that’s not that person standing in front of you, to be able to see how they think and their process, it does help develop that relationship.”
The gallery accepts art from any faculty member that is interested in submitting a piece, and the only requirement is that the work has not been shown the past five years.
“We just wanted a fresher body of work. Some faculty tend to bring in things they have created and it’s been somewhere else,” Hernandez said. “We want to present something to the school and the public that has not been on show for five years, and mostly everything here is 2011, 2012.”
The Visual Arts department offers a variety of specialties apparent in the eclectic exhibit, which includes such art mediums as photography, digital print, painting, drawing, ceramics, 3D animation, and three different forms of sculpture.
“This year we actually have one of the professors doing a performance piece, which is unusual, we don’t always have someone doing that so what we’ll do is they’re going to do the performance [at the opening], someone will be videotaping them and then we’ll have their performance piece looping on a TV,” Gallery Coordinator Diane Daugherty said.
Assistant Professor Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz performed the piece throughout the opening event where she appeared in Victorian era clothing, sat on a throne with a costumed woman by her side and held a silver tray on her lap that was filled with trash.
Also looping on a television in a small makeshift theater is an animation piece called “Dentophobia” by Darlene Hadrika, with a musical score by Professor Stella Sung.
“Darlene is putting on her own personal animation, written and completely generated by her own effort, which is pretty impressive,” Digital Media Instructor JoAnne Adams said about her coworker.
Adams is also featuring work, including a three-piece set called “Earth Sky Series. “I had been doing some, I’ll call it digital collage, because I start with my own photography and then take the photographs apart and piece them together into a separate piece and play with space and interpretation of space,” Adams said.
Adams earned a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts degree from the University of New Orleans and a Master’s of Fine Arts from the University of Florida. She started teaching at UCF in 2008, after working as a professional artist for years. “I have always wanted to be a teacher and I got my BFA and started working right away as an artist and had a really nice career at Disney in feature animation
for 15 years and so, saved up enough money to go back and get my MFA,” Adams said. “I always wanted to give back.”
Daugherty said that professors have a duty to exhibit their work to students at the gallery.
“I see it as a responsibility on the professors part, because they are professional artists therefore they should be creating as a professional artist,” Daugherty said. “By presenting your work you are showing your students this is what a professional artist does.”
About 200 people attended the exhibit’s opening reception, including Israel Perez, an art student who has taken classes with featured faculty including
Instructor Matt Dombrowski and Associate Professor Scott F. Hall. Perez favored a sculpture by Assistant Professor David Isenhour called “The Better to See You With.” “I really like the plan, the form, how the pedestal is dripping with paint,” he said.
Hernandez also commented on the sculpture. “It’s this piece that you want it to come to life and you’re staring at these eyeballs and foam and you’re just staring waiting for one of them to twitch and if you stare at it long enough you might think it does,” Hernandez said. “It’s this dark, cynical piece that you can’t help but appreciate.”
Although visitors admire the exhibit, Daugherty said that because of a lack of funding, the gallery has made cut backs that affect the quality of their shows. About three months ago they had to let their art specialist go because they lacked funding for the full time position.
The gallery is funded by donations and partly through the Jenkins Family Foundation.
“It was set up in 1986 to help UCF fund, focus on art, art therapy, art administration, and art education,” Daugherty said.
Because their budget does not allow for a full staff, the gallery relies on volunteers like Alison Yorinks and Kayla Robinson. During two and a half to three hour shifts, three times a week, these volunteers contribute by greeting guests, completing data entry projects, and answering phones. Other duties include hanging artwork, labeling, archiving, and maintaining the gallery walls.
“It’s very informative, more so this year,” Yorinks said. “We are getting more experienced with gallery tasks.” Yorinks, a senior interdisciplinary major has volunteered since her junior year and recommends that students visit the gallery. “It’s free to anyone, you don’t have to be a student,” Yorinks said. “You never know what you’ll find here.”
The exhibition runs through Nov. 16, and the gallery is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
