The Leu Center for the Visual Arts is awash in color, light and emotion as senior fine arts students have their thesis projects on exhibition. For Zoe Nichols, Raymarah Watson-Cunningham and Leslie Lyons, these works dive into their personal explorations of identity, connection and the human experience.
what is, as is
Raymarah's striking portrait series "what is, as is" commands the central gallery wall. "This body of work celebrates the sublime beauty, resilience and interconnectedness inherent within the Black experience," she explained.
Her inspiration stems from a reflective poem that delves into acceptance of circumstances beyond one's control. "What inspired me to choose this theme of Blackness in the sublime is the existence of Black people and the beauty found in the Black human experience and identity," she said.
Employing a layered technique of watercolor, pastels and pencil, Raymarah’s subjects radiate strength and grace through sketches with a thin layer of watercolor paint over top. She then used oil pastels and colored pencils to enhance certain details within the figures’ faces, accessories and clothing — using this specific layering technique to support the significance of what details like jewelry, box braid, waves and afro hairstyles mean to the Black community.
"I simply want to provide a lens into what it means when Black lives and experiences are truly seen and acknowledged. I create to narrate and leave an open invitation to whoever is willing to listen."
Raymarah reflected on the lessons learned through developing her thesis, noting she will never feel satisfied while making work about the Black, human experience, “simply because it is one that will never be satisfied within itself.”
However, this body of work has given her more confidence in her work, helped her better understand her creative phases and taught her to give herself grace in developing her ideas.
what is, as is
Still Life with Pear
Nearby, Zoe's ephemeral installation “Still Life with Pear” casts an ethereal glow. Each of the pieces in the ensemble are meant to echo to the next, recording her attention to light in the gallery space.
Using materials like plaster, pear seeds, silk screen, wood photography, projected and natural light, Zoe created the installations to be site-specific. “I like the ephemerality of this kind of work because the light will change in a week or so,” she explained. “The absence of that initial position of light speaks to themes of transience and memory in my work.”
Zoe reflects on her father’s job as a photographer — giving him a specific eye for how objects catch the light. “There is a language of light that my grandfather passed to my dad, who passed it on to me,” she explained. “Attention to light has become an abiding practice for me.”
After her father’s cancer diagnosis four years ago, she says her eyes now watch for absence of light, too. Her gossamer mixed-media pieces invite viewers on that very journey of noticing absence and light. "We can notice the presence bound to absence if we pay attention," she invited.
This is Zoe’s first synthesis of her philosophical and artistic interests. She says the longer she has studied the two, the more each influences the other. She credits lessons learned to her Watkins classes and professors, saying her Philosophy of the Arts class with Dr. Andrew Davis “cracked everything open,” and Advanced Studio: Exhibition with Kristi Hargrove gave her conceptual projects that challenged her understanding of what art should or could be. Finally, her sculpture professor Thomas Sturgill has been an immense support and catalyst in her critical thinking and creative decision making.
“This project is just one step in a lifetime of creating. I think I get caught up trying to say everything at once,” Zoe reflected. “I did a solo show last spring at the Watkins Art Gallery, and it’s cool to see how some of those concepts have lingered or changed completely... some materials have stayed the same. This thesis felt informed by last year's work, so it builds on itself in really cool ways, and it’s nice to remember I don’t have to have it all figured out.”
Still Life with Pear
Gallery View
This image is part of a larger installation that stretches from the window to the opposite wall. The window is lined with a painted silkscreen. Light can only pour through the unpainted section of the screen. At 7:24, the direct morning light eclipses just the photograph before sliding onto the wall and floor.
Zoe marked the wall and floor with black seeds where the light stretches past the suspended image.
She titled this installation piece, Of Lungs, in the hopes that an absence of the word “pair” might tie this piece into the title of the show.
The pieces "Negative Pear" and "9:38 am Shadow" directly echo one another. Both utilize the absent form of a pear. In Negative Pear the plaster impression and light both act as negatives of a pear and its shadow. This is an important piece because it speaks to index, but it also exists actively in the way that a static photograph does not. Viewers can move their hands to interrupt the projected light.
9:38 am Shadow represents the empty space between a pear and its shadow in the gallery’s morning light. This solid shadow piece counters the active quality of the other piece and is positioned after the path of seeds to further imply the trajectory of morning light.
The piece, Core (a pair of pear lungs), was intentionally made to form a connection between the use of pears and the suspended photograph. There is a linguistic connection: “pair” of lungs and the “pear” fruit, which might be found in a still life. There is also a visual connection: the suspended seeds mirror the shape of the negative light in the photograph.
The final piece is a small wooden panel stretched with silkscreen. A mirror sits behind a rectangular cutout and the gallery lights reflect the window shape onto the floor. The reflection is only visible from certain locations. This piece echoes the photograph of reflected light.
FUTURE BRINGERS
In another gallery section are Leslie's vibrant paintings and monumental steel sculpture, which form a joyful celebration of identity, resolve and community. Based on the idea that “we're stronger together," Leslie explained that she wanted to create an optimistic, playful perspective with bright colors in her installation of FUTURE BRINGERS to convey a message of self-love and compassion for others.
As a future art educator, Leslie believes in the power of education and community and believes that the art educator’s role is founded in activism and progress. She said, “I wanted my work to stress the importance of acceptance and understanding each other as a way to contextualize social progress in America.”
Using materials commonly found in K-12 art classrooms like acrylic paint, oil pastel and colored pencil for the paintings, she also ventured into steel welding for the first time for her sculpture, wanting to use steel to represent the strength and permanence of the LGBTQ+ community.
Leslie said she is proud of herself for pushing herself to use a new material, as she typically works in 2D, and is thankful for professors like Sturgill for giving her the confidence that she could do it when she expressed nerves and hesitation about working with new tools.
“Forgiveness and patience with myself influenced the work greatly,” she concluded. “Being kind to yourself when working can sometimes feel like you’re sacrificing good work, but in the end, I feel way better about what I accomplished.”
FUTURE BRINGERS
FUTURE BRINGERS sculpture
(left to right) “New Love,” “New Machine” and “New Religion”
As these three artists prepare to chart their creative paths beyond Watkins, their thesis exhibitions stand as powerful beacons illuminating the depth of their journeys. Through their blend of passion, vulnerability and unwavering vision, Raymarah, Zoe and Leslie have crafted works that transcend the personal to become profound meditations on identity, ephemerality and the resolute human spirit.