As a final recognition, faculty members from the art, architecture and design, and the interior design departments selected a handful of graduating seniors from each department to have their work on display for the 2007 Honors Exhibition in the Art and Architecture Building’s Ewing Gallery.
The work was selected at the end of the spring semester and was initially put on display May 8. From the art department, students selected are Jody Bennett, Brenna Board, Roberta Crews, Samantha Dillehay, Shelagh Leutwiler, Carly Mattews and Julian Rogers.
From the architecture and design department, students selected are Robert Bratton, Andrew Godwin, Erik Herrmann, Chris Layda, Brad Raines, Robert Tait and Margaux Verdera.
Chosen from the interior design department were Rachel Trahan and Rachael Layman, who worked together on the same design.
Amongst the different lighting styles, colors, videos, photographs and architectural designs a few pieces stood out amongst the rest.
Trahan and Layman took a different approach to their work and built a design for the South Knoxville community. It was created specifically for mixed income families, and the designs mirror the current trends of urban development that the South Knoxville and river-front properties are experiencing.
The most emotional piece was by Leutwiler. Her focus was on the destructive way mountaintops are removed which make it easier to mine for coal. The setting for her work is the Appalachian Mountains.
She used watercolors to paint an environmental scene on many pieces of paper. The style of the watercolors made the mountains, forests and wildlife seem almost fragile. Leutwiler accomplished this by smearing the watercolors as the paint dried on the paper.
Beside the watercolor paintings are messages, one of which says, “I’ll cry about this later.” Her message is a way to help viewers understand that what happens now will affect the generations to come. Once the mountains are removed, they are not coming back.
The last piece that outshown the others was Dilleyhay’s photographs and film. The photos are of a girl taken at different angles. Below each photo are lines of texts referring to the models talents and how those talents are often overlooked. The words said whenever the model is seen, people look at her larger physical appearance rather who she is inside.
Dilleyhay’s haunting film that was playing in the middle of the photos shows on one side a girl of larger size inside a bathtub and on the other side a drain slowly emptying. The somber film may have been a look inside the model’s feeling of emptiness which may force viewers to believe the model is going to pull out a razor blade.
The 2007 Honors Exhibition will continue to be on display until June 28. During the week the exhibit is open Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. until 4 p.m.
