Seniors Present Thesis Art Exhibit April 25-May 10

Seven Guilford College art students will display their capstone projects in “hypoTHESIS,” the 2008 Senior Thesis Art Exhibition, which will be on display April 25-May 10 in the Founders Hall Gallery. An opening reception will take place Friday, April 25, from 7-9 p.m.

To participate in the optional honors Senior Thesis Exhibition, students must apply in their junior year and have at least a 3.25 GPA in art.  Selected students partake in a rigorous program of independent work, group critiques, and a required professional practices course, which culminates in their final group exhibition. 

The seven students in the exhibition and their areas of specialization are:

           

Amanda Armbrust (Drawing)

Amanda Armbrust, from Warwick, R.I., is a candidate for a Bachelor of Fine Arts in drawing. Having completed a bachelor’s degree in religious studies, graduating with departmental honors in the spring of 2007, she has been actively investigating her own spiritual journey through intellectual and artistic media.  Her large scale, mixed-media drawings are an exploration of the human figure as it mediates between psycho-emotional/imagined experiences and the empirical/physical experience of “shared” reality. 

Amanda has exhibited her work frequently, receiving first place awards in drawing and printmaking, an honorable mention in 3-D design in the annual Juried Student Art Show at Guilford and the Appalachian State University Exhibition Award. Other awards include the 2007 James S. Laing Scholarship for excellence in art and an ASIANetwork and Freeman Foundation Grant for five weeks research of Tibetan culture in Southwest China in 2006.

           

Marion Chamberlin (Photography)

A former ballet dancer from Waterford, Va., Marion Chamberlin is a candidate for a Bachelor of Arts in photography.  In her black and white self portraits, she addresses her anguish at being injured and told she would never be able to dance in the same capacity again. Marion was a co-recipient of the 2007-08 Merry Moor Winnett Scholarship, given annually for excellence in photography.  Her photographs have been exhibited at the Durham Art Guild Juried Show, in the traveling exhibition Art at Work and the annual Juried Student Art Show at Guilford.  Marion is a double major in German language and literature and photography. Having spent a semester abroad in Munich, she plans to travel in Austria after graduation.

           

Tim Grau (Printmaking)

Timothy Grau from Baltimore, Md., is a B.F.A. candidate in printmaking whose thesis installation of paintings, works on paper and multi-media deals with themes of choice, chance and consequence.  Tim’s art has been exhibited in the annual Juried Student Art Show for the past three years, and he received second place awards in printmaking and drawing.  In 2007, he won the biennial Rachel and Allen Weller Memorial Sculpture Competition, resulting in his sculpture being displayed on Guilford's campus. Grau’s work has also been exhibited at UNC-G and Appalachian State University, and is currently included in The Greensboro 200 exhibition at the Center for Visual Artists in the Cultural Arts Center.

           

Kay Kelley (Drawing)

Hailing from Durham, N.H., Kay Kelley is a candidate for a Bachelor of Fine Arts in drawing. Her mixed media drawings juxtapose animal, botanical and skeletal imagery in surreal compositions that explore questions regarding our spiritual connections to the earth during a period of extreme environmental degradation. Prior to attending Guilford, Kay studied at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y. and at California College of the Arts in Oakland, Calif.  She won first place for drawing in the 2005 Juried Student Art Show and displayed work in the 2006 show as well.  She has participated in invitational shows at UNCG, and the competitive collegiate printmaking exhibition Print Dialog Days at Appalachian State University and the Artists of the 21st Century juried collegiate exhibition at West Tennessee Regional Arts Center in Humboldt, Tenn. She is also exhibiting in The Greensboro 200 exhibition at the Center for Visual Artists. 

           

Emily Johnson (Painting)

Emily Johnson’s paintings and drawings depict the isolated and entrapped nature of the female body in Western culture through the exploration of light, form and color.  A candidate for a Bachelor of Arts in painting, Emily is from Lexington, Va., and completed a semester long internship with the Guilford College Art Gallery in 2007, in which she curated an exhibition of paintings by Robert Broderson. Her work was also shown in the 2007 Juried Student Art Show.

           

Brett McDonough (Ceramics)

Brett McDonough from Boone, N.C., is a candidate for a Bachelor of Arts in ceramics. His recent works consist of imaginary animal forms reminiscent of characters from childhood stories and comic books.  While his work is highly sculptural it still maintains the utilitarian aspect that is important in functional pottery. Brett was awarded first place in ceramics at the Juried Student Art Show in 2007. He has also exhibited his pottery in the Artist's Palette at the Jones House, and the Empty Bowls and Art on the Roof exhibits (both in Boone).

Arianna Pelullo (Painting)

Arianna Gehrke Pelullo, from Philadelphia, Penn., presents a multiple media installation called “AriSafari,” which includes clothing she has designed and adorned with embroidery and silk screen, and works on paper that express her paradoxical passion and critique of hip-hop and rap culture and music.  Arianna has shown at the Juried Student Art Shows at Guilford College and Novas Gallery in London, England, and is currently exhibiting in The Greensboro 200 exhibition at the Center for Visual Artists.  Arianna is a candidate for a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting.

Both the reception and exhibition are free and open to the public. Gallery hours vary; for more information call 336-316-2301.

The exhibition was made possible in part by support from the Barbara Fry English Memorial Fund. Established by Jack English (a 1976 graduate) to perpetuate the memory of his late wife, an artist who died in 2005 after a battle with cancer, the fund supports the programs of the Guilford College Department of Art.

April 25, 2008