Ouachita Stories

The Rosemary Adams Department of Art and Design at Ouachita Baptist University will host Stephen Watson in a guest exhibit, “Emanate: A Fragrant Installation,” Sept. 12 - Oct. 17. The artist invites the public to installation viewings of Sept. 10-11. An opening reception and artist lecture will be held Monday, Sept. 12, at 10 a.m. in Moses-Provine Hall’s Rosemary Gossett Adams Gallery, where the exhibit will be displayed. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

Watson, a sculptor, creates aromatic installations that are site-specific. He uses herbs and spices in his floor installations to communicate his conceptual art.

“Materially speaking, creating art using spices and herbs is visually, texturally and aromatically enthralling. The resulting installations are delicious, decorative and alluring; however, they are fragile,” said Watson in his artist statement. “The materials rest loosely on the earth, with no preservative or protection. They are lowly and vulnerable, and they are consumable by wind and breath, finger and foot.”

Using 2 Corinthians 2:14-15 as inspiration for the upcoming display, Watson described the concept of his exhibit, saying, “Christians are the aroma of the crucified Christ. If you can imagine that Jesus was a burnt offering, we would be the smoke emanating from His sacrifice, pluming up and out, filling the air, spreading the news of the fire.”

The verse says, “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.”

“I look forward to visiting with Stephen and to better understanding his creative process and his ideas about what he is doing,” said Donnie Copeland, chair of the Adams Department of Art and Design. “I think students will enjoy the fact that the work is not on the wall and that it is made in an unusual way.”

Watson’s art is displayed in contemporary art galleries, public spaces and churches. In addition to his personal art and exhibits, Watson serves as an assistant professor of art at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala.

“I hope people from around campus and the Arkadelphia community will take the time to come by the galleries to view and smell Watson’s installation,” Copeland said.

The exhibit can be viewed during regular Adams Gallery hours, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, contact OBU’s School of Fine Arts at (870) 245-5129.

 

By Haley Martin