COD Alumni Display Work at Wings Student Art Gallery
Art work from three distinguished College of DuPage alumni is currently on display at the Wings Student Art Gallery on campus in Glen Ellyn.
"Collective: COD Alumni Exhibition," presented in conjunction with Black History Month, features the work of Larry King, Brenton Holliday and Jacqueline Withers. The exhibit runs through Friday, Feb. 26, with hours from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays to Fridays and by appointment.
Abigail West, a College of DuPage student and curator of the exhibit, said the ultimate goal was to show both similar and different perspectives of people within the same cultural group while celebrating alumni and the College's Art program.
"These three artists are very different in nature, which creates an eclectic show," said West, who also earned her Associate in Fine Arts degree and is an intern at the Cleve Carney Art Gallery. "Many of the works do focus on struggles or experiences of minorities. However, I find it exciting they all use such strong color choices. Their color palettes certainly connect to each other visually, which creates a diverse visual experience."
Holliday, who took painting with Art Professor Jennifer Hereth, has several paintings on display in the gallery, including "American Indian Ghost Dance" that was inspired by his uncle, Charles Phillip Watson, who teaches in COD's Continuing Education program.
"I wanted to paint this and dedicate it to my uncle for teaching me about the American Indians and the violent history they have experienced," he said.
Holliday, who currently lives in Chicago, is currently working on a mural of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra playing with "violent expressive power" and a painting depicting Chef Ferran Adria, his passions in food and his elBulli restaurant.
"COD helped me find myself, and the school encourages me to do better. My art is starting to emerge, and my grandmother, who recently passed away on the same day as one of my uncles, said to me, 'Do what makes you happy, which is painting. Now go do it!'" he said. "I want to be known as the next famous artist expressing power, frustrations, fighting against oppression and discriminations while using paints, love and valor. I want to focus on the integrity of the arts but not take it for granted, instead care for it. I love what I do."
When King retired from the U.S. Postal Service in 1992, he wanted to continue fulfilling his passion for art. He heard a radio ad for Monday night sculpture classes at College of DuPage that caught his attention. With previous formal training in sculpture at Xavier University in New Orleans and the Art Institute in Chicago, he immediately enrolled at COD and has since become an internationally recognized sculptor.
Last fall, he was contacted by Hereth to contribute several small sculptures or maquettes for the "Collective" exhibit.
"I told her that I didn't participate in BHM exhibitions. Black artists should be given a little attention 365 days a year like most American artists," said King, who currently resides in North Carolina. "She said she understood my feelings but would like the students to see works outside the political genre and that would be different."
King was working on nine scarecrow objects, inspired by the predator "scare eye" balloons used in Japanese gardens. He was using discarded DVDs, glass nuggets, PVC plumbing pipes, steel and glue.
"When your teacher, who played a lot in your development, asks you to do something, you just do it," he said. "I did not tell her that these scarecrow objects were to be used to protect my fruit gardens from birds. I selected three of the birds that were mostly finished and one of the many Maquettes made as studies for the Chicago Morton Arboretum several years ago. I selected the piece titled 'Akesha' referring to the idea of the physical force that earth, fire and water descends from. It is made of brass rods, copper wire treated with acids on colored Winterstone (cement) and wood base. In all four of the pieces, I think that the use of different materials and processes should be of benefit to most students."
For more information about the Wings Student Art Gallery, visit www.cod.edu/programs/arts/wings.aspx. For more information about Black History Month, visit www.cod.edu/bhm. For more about the Art program at COD, visit www.cod.edu/programs/arts.