This upcoming month, the Te Paske Gallery will be housing “Vigilant Being,” a tenure exhibit by art professor Emily Stokes.
“Vigilant Being” will be on display from Sept. 26-Oct. 28, with the opening reception being held Monday, Sept. 26. The gallery will display pieces that include various techniques and styles. All pieces are mounted on wood without frames, and some sculptural work is incorporated as well.
The style of the artwork is representational, however, as abstract pieces are featured. Printmaking is also a primary technique used throughout.
“Printmaking is a very process-oriented, repetitive, and labor-intensive way of making things,” said art professor Phil Scorza. First developed in the 5th century, printmaking is a method of producing multiple images, called prints that are each created from a single original surface.
The exhibit is also a composition of painting and digital transfer techniques. Stokes explains that she does not fear using color, and plenty is incorporated throughout.
One piece incorporating painting, drawing and digital transfer techniques is titled “Trail Series II” and is one of Stoke’s favorite pieces. This specific work uses interlocking wooden panels to form a panoramic image.
Currently the piece shows seven panels, but Stokes is planning on making more. The exact number is yet to be defined, which makes the piece even more exciting for Stokes.
Through her art, Stokes wants to convey faith, using arrangements of coded symbols such as the lamb, haystacks, ice and other topographical elements within an intricate landscape.
These symbols all have special meanings to Stokes. The idea of displaying faith through symbolism is a technique that has been used by various other artists such as Jan Van Eyck, Caspar David Friedrich and James Turrell.
“Vigilant Being” also shows how visual art can essentially become a language that speaks through every mark, color or compositional choice.
“While I have intended meaning in what I draw, paint or print, every viewer will see something different in the work,” Stokes said.
The gallery will be showing 12 pieces of Stokes’ art, and if a viewer takes time to analyze each piece, it is obvious that no two pieces are the same and each shows a unique approach.
“We live in a very ‘copy-n-paste,’ computerized world that typically doesn’t leave us the time to slow down and spend the hundreds of hours it takes to create what we have the opportunity to see in the gallery,” Scorza said. “Emily Stokes has given us a gift with this body of work, since she has put in the time for us to enjoy the results.”
