Ouachita Stories

Ouachita Baptist University’s Department of Art and Design will host senior art exhibits by Valeria Torres, a graphic design and psychology double major from Arkadelphia, Ark., and Jan Whytock, a studio art major from Charlottetown, Canada, April 18 through May 3 in Rosemary Gossett Adams Gallery in Moses-Provine Hall. The exhibits are free and open to the public. A reception will be held April 18 at 6 p.m. in the gallery.

Torres’ exhibit is titled “Simplified” because she said she wanted to focus on simple aspects of visual art. Her exhibit primarily will feature graphic design work produced for class projects and friends. Torres’ work emphasizes more detailed and intricate work rather than larger, more ostentatious pieces.

“I want viewers to pay attention to the intricate part of my work,” she explained. “Design comes with really big do’s and don't’s that come together to help create good works of art. I want them to know that even the simplest piece of work can have creative components to them. Some of the most simple designs are also some of the best works out there.” 

Torres began developing her more modest style in one of her art classes after struggling to design something she liked. She compared her work to her classmates’ projects and decided hers was too simple. She thought if art was going to be good, it should be more elaborate.

“I had a professor tell me that my work was simple,” Torres noted. “And then he continued to say that it was better because of its simplicity. It was then that I realized simple was better for me and a crucial part in my own design style. Subtracting unneeded elements from a design is what I aim to do.”

“Simplified” will be on exhibit in the second floor Rosemary Gossett Adams Gallery in Moses-Provine Hall.

Whytock’s exhibit, “Home,” will show artworks of different sizes and media from detailed watercolors to large charcoal drawings. Each of these allowed Whytock to provide a better explanation of what home is to her.

“The art is connected by the idea of place and its impact upon me as an artist but also how the viewer responds to place in their life,” Whytock explained. “I was inspired by places I have lived or visited, people I love who live there and exploring further the impact of home in my art.”

Whytock said her exhibit seeks to answer the question, “Where are you from?” She began by reflecting on herself and her own home, and then she expanded this to audiences at large, no matter where they are from. Whytock’s artwork features natural landscapes, architecture and artifacts.

“Home must be examined, contemplated, appreciated and understood,” Whytock added. “They are more than just exercises in memory; they are expressions of a created being’s truest self amid the particularities of the creation in which God has placed them.”

“Home” will be shown in the first floor Rosemary Gossett Adams Gallery in Moses-Provine Hall.

Both exhibits are free and open to the public and can be viewed during regular Adams Gallery hours, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. For more information, contact OBU’s School of Fine Arts at (870) 245-5129.

 

By Katie Smith

April 13, 2017