After two years of hard work and artistic motivation seven students graduating with their Master of Fine Arts shared their visions with the public Saturday as their creations were displayed in the Ackland Art Museum.
The exhibit" titled ""New Currents in Contemporary Art" is on display until May 10. There was also a reception Saturday where the artists gathered with friends and viewers to honor their efforts and achievements.
It's a really great exhibition because it's the only time of the year the Ackland displays student art and it is very cool to see that partnership going on" said Elsa Hasenzahl, a senior and president of Student Friends of the Ackland, who put on the reception.
The works of each master's student were collected into groups that flowed seamlessly through about one-third of the museum.
The artists used a variety of media. Angela Grisales used felt to create an exquisite, plant-like structure called Coppice."" Dave Sinkiewicz's ""Watchtower"" piece was located on the museum lawn" where he recreated the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski's cabin inside an actual truck cab.
Inside John Hill's sketches required 3-D glasses and Nestor Armando Gil's oversized scroll stretched from the ceiling to the floor.
Sinkiewicz and Gil also displayed their collaborative project" an unconventional work called the ""Homeland Theatre."" Curious observers gathered around the enclosed box draped in velvet" and after walking in one-by-one" viewed images and answered questions relating to guilt.
""It's a common experience"" Sinkiewicz said of guilt. It's one of those things where we're not always sure if it is an accident.""
Gil agreed"" saying that their project helps to show how guilt is used to manipulate public opinion and behavior.
Artists took up to a year to prepare their collections as their portfolios developed over the course of the two-year program.
""I started and thought I was done" but then I switched back and wanted to finish this project" said Edie Shimel of her black-and-white photographs.
Gretchen Huffman said the centerpiece of her display, a huge panoramic forest scene, took two months of nonstop carving"" to create.
Each piece in her collection was intricately linked. She described her collection as ""choose your own adventure"" because details from her separate, smaller pictures were all incorporated into her carved focus piece.
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Student art on display at the Ackland
UNC students Jesse Lomas and Kate Jackson-Adams examine John Hill Jr.'s microneedle drawing through the provided 3-D glasses at the opening of the Ackland's New Currents in Contemporary Art"" exhibit. The annual exhibit displays the work of graduating Master of Fine Arts Student and this year featured the work of seven artists. ""From back here it looks very innocent"" said grad student Jo Gohmann about Hill's piece, but there's a lot of nitty gritty going on up close.""
