The Camosun Visual Arts students have been working long days leading up to their year-end exhibit.
The Visual Arts graduate exhibition, Within the Menagerie, will be taking place on April 24.
The exhibition will showcase the students’ exploration of artistic media and the hours of planning that took place leading up to the show.
“Because we’re in such a generalist program, we’re sampling a little bit of everything. So the work is a little bit of everything,” says Laura Rechwan, graduating student and president of the Visual Arts Club. “There will be full sculptural installation and 2-D paintings, printmaking, photography, and film.”
Rechwan’s passion radiates as she describes her experiences at Camosun, speaking alongside Visual Arts Club treasurer Tavis Johnson-Dorman.
It’s very clear that the Visual Arts students have devoted their entire lives to art.
“We’re here 24/7. Teachers meet and give us the amount of work that will fill our time, sometimes too much, so we can concentrate on nothing else other than art,” explains Rechwan.
Art takes more than painting an idea onto a canvas, the club members say. It takes practice, patience, and knowledge.
Learning which medium to use takes time, and according to Rechwan and Johnson-Dorman, the instructors at Camosun have taught their Visual Arts students how to do so effectively.
“As an artist, your concepts are the first thing you have. Then you decide which medium to express them through,” says Rechwan.
Johnson-Dorman adds that this multitude of media makes things more interesting.
“It makes for a richer experience than just using one medium,” says Johnson-Dorman.
Students can often end up being caught in an infinite spiral of retouching artwork before finally deciding to finish the piece, they say.
“At a certain point you need to realize, it’s just not going to get any better,” says Johnson-Dorman. “The great thing about this program is that it grinds the perfectionism out of you.”
The Visual Arts program is meant to be hands-on, enabling the students to grow with their talents. The students’ energy is not only spent on creating the art, but also on planning and organizing their final show and fundraiser.
“There was a ton of planning,” says Johnson-Dorman, with an exhale.
The Visual Arts students organized a pizza-box fundraiser to help offset the cost of the final art exhibition.
“We got these pizza boxes and we filled them with five pieces of art each,” says Johnson-Dorman. “But you wouldn’t be able to tell what you were getting before you got it.”
“It’s like a mystery box, like the lottery,” adds Rechwan.
According to Johnson-Dorman, the first fundraiser was a huge success and the students sold out. However, there are still pizza boxes that can be purchased, and the fundraising isn’t over for the students yet.
“We’re still selling pizza boxes,” says Johnson-Dorman. “The art show is free admission, and it’s open to the public. Drinks and food are by donation.”