NIC Faculty Art Exhibition Opens in Boswell Corner Gallery

An artist panel presentation was held in the Molstead Library before the opening reception at the gallery. Gallery art director, Michael Horswill, moderated the presentation where each artist spoke about their artwork and creative inspiration.

^{Eric Demattos, Jeremiah Shiek, Allie Kurtz Vogt, Jen Erickson, Erik Rodgers. Faculty panel discussion Nov. 14, 2023.}

Horswill, sculpture and art instructor, said he is working on a series where he incorporates lots of different materials and a wax technique called “encaustic.” He said the wax is very forgiving and when heated, presents an array of finishes that complement his artworks.

Encaustic alludes to the “notion of peering through into another kind of reality,” Horswill said. “A lot of it for me is discovery of representing a vision I have.”

Jen Erickson teaches watercolor and oils, and she said that personally she bounces back and forth between the two. For Erickson, creation of an artwork begins with color.

“It doesn’t start with an idea,” Erickson said. “It starts with color and the vision evolves as I go.”

In describing her painting, “Glassdoors, Dreams, and Visions,” Erickson said there are layers of paint that cover words of pain and anguish elicited from poetry of marginalized people. She said their challenges inspire her, sometimes with words and marks, and then she covers them up to remain hidden under the paint. Erickson said history, data, and science also serve as inspiration for her paintings.

Eric Demattos, NIC photography instructor, said that Japanese wabi-sabi influences his works. Wabi-sabi is a concept that nothing is perfect and beauty can be found in the imperfect.  He is experimenting with paint in combination with photography, and said he created the works exhibited with the idea of incorporating different perspectives.

                                           ^{Jeremiah Schiek with “Hush Ronan #3”}

Jeremiah Schiek teaches beginning drawing and compositional arrangement at NIC, and is a comic book artist on his third original series of “Hush Ronin.” Schiek said he has been drawing comics since age 9, and is into the narrative of storytelling.

Erik Rodgers also participated in the panel. He said he enjoys a wide range of pursuits in ceramics, particularly throwing large pieces on the wheel. Rodgers said he has developed functional and ergonomic emphases in his work attributed to his role as an instructor.

“I make things that make my life easier,” Rodgers said.

^{Center Allie Kurtz Vogt with two friends and Joe Jacoby, Communications and Fine Arts Chair, in the background. Faculty Art Exhibition Opening Boswell Corner Gallery}

Allie Kurtz Vogt said she uses life history, imagination and abstraction in her work, and said it is important to commit to working in the studio to keep actively creating. She said that creating a dialog with one’s self is essential in the creative process. Vogt is professor emerita at NIC, and was the former Corner Gallery art director for many years before retiring in 2017.

After the presentations, a question period ensued where marketing art, the benefits of higher education as an art major, and the impact of artificial intelligence on art creation were discussed. Most panelists agreed that the art process and creating art were most important.

As to the benefits of higher art education, Erickson shared her life experience.

“Even if you don’t know what you want to do with a degree, it opens up a lot of opportunity,” Erickson said. “Art education encompasses problem solving skills that will carry through in any field you go into.”

The subject of artificial intelligence elicited several comments from the panel.

“As art makers, we need to bring that genuineness into our process,” Horswill said. “AI is a big deal, especially for art instructors.”

“It puts the onus on us,” Schiek said. “What is the thing the human can do that AI can’t?”

The faculty art exhibition runs through January 26, 2024, in the Boswell Corner Gallery. Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Friday 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.