Student artists aimed to enlighten their peers about recycling and mental illness at the student galleries from April 21 to 25.
Artists love to insert messages into their work and the student artists at this week’s exhibit were no exception.
“Myrtle” is a short film that is about a lazy girl who builds a trash mountain outside her house by carelessly throwing her trash in her backyard. Later on, the trash turns into vengeful monsters who chase her. The event ultimately convinces her to change her ways.
The four-and-a-half minute film is half animated and half stop motion. Kyu-yeon Jung, masters of fine arts animation student, created the set out of cardboard plastic bottles and aluminum cans to give the illusion of a neighborhood landscape. She used 3D trash opposed to 2D (illustrated) trash, so that it would drive the point home about how prevalent trash has become in our society.
“Since it’s a comedy, I want people to smile and enjoy the story itself,” Jung explained. Not thinking about trash while they are watching it, but after that, I want them to think about it a little bit and think about the situation we’re in our current world.”
Another exhibition focused on teaching was “Overgrown” by master of fine arts student Siobhan Keenan.
“Overgrown” is an illustration exhibition that features works revolving around the character, Ashley Park, who is a witch that faces anxiety and depression due to his cousin getting married and his best friend moving away for college. He goes into the forest and finds a plant that turns out to be an anxiety monster, although he does not know it.
The walls feature objects that belong to Park, like a broomstick and potion jars. There is also an interactive cutout of the character that observers could add paper leaves to if they have ever faced anxiety themselves.
“Overgrown” is a graphic novel that sheds light on the dangers of not addressing your problems and will have another chapter coming out sometime this summer on Keenan’s website.
“My book doesn’t have a conclusion, but if you go to the other gallery [The Invisible Battle] it’s a perfect conclusion on how to actually treat anxiety and depression,” Keenan said.
“The Invisible Battle” is a graphic design exhibition by Jincong Ni, masters of fine arts in graphic design student. It is focused on depression to raise awareness on forms of prevention. The gallery features brightly colored, easily consumable infographics with statistics about the disease and how it can be managed.
“Myrtle,” “Overgrown,” “The Invisible Battle,” “Synthesis” and “Moiety” are located between the Fine Arts 2 and Fine Arts 3 buildings. They will run until Thursday April 25 from noon to 5 p.m with the exception of Wednesday when the galleries stay open until 7 p.m.