Ouachita Stories

Ouachita Baptist University’s Hammons Gallery will be temporarily transformed with the visit of guest artist Jonathan Brilliant who will erect a site-specific piece of installation artwork comprised only of coffee stirring sticks Tuesday, March 2, through Saturday, March 13.

David Bieloh, Ouachita associate professor of Art and Design and chair of the department of Art and Design, described what students should expect from the exhibit, saying, “It will be completely unexpected, very atypical and unlike anything they have encountered before in our gallery."

Brilliant, who holds a bachelor’s degree in studio art from the College of Charleston in Charleston, S.C., and a master’s degree in spatial arts from San Jose State University in San Jose, Calif., is stopping at both Ouachita and Henderson State University as part of his 18-month “Have Sticks Will Travel” world tour which includes stops in eight states as well as Germany and Mexico. On this tour, Brilliant uses materials from consumer culture to create art that is typically large and temporary.

“In this ongoing series of work, I continue to explore my sense that the coffee shop and related consumer environs are more organic and nurturing than the ‘real’ natural environment,” Brilliant explained. “This ongoing cycle of work is realized through the creation of large site-specific, site-responsive sculptural interventions.”

“The presence and scope of the installation is very impressive,” Bieloh said. “We’re talking about thousands of coffee shop stirring sticks held together by tension only, all woven together,  integrated through and in response to our particular gallery space. It will be a site to behold.”

The Jonathan Brilliant Exhibit will be a collaborative effort of the Department of Art and Design at OBU and the Art Department at HSU. While the installation of the artwork will take place at OBU’s Hammons Gallery, Brilliant plans to use HSU’s printmaking studio to design large, promotional prints of his work.

The installation will be open to viewers from start to finish. There will also be a reception on Thursday, March 11, at 5 p.m., in the Hammons Gallery. To find out more about Jonathan Brilliant’s work, visit his Web site at www.jonathanbrilliant.com. For more information about the exhibit, contact David Bieloh at [email protected] or (870) 245-5565.

By Rebecca Stone