School of Fine Arts photography seniors such as Abby Rivera put on their showcase, “Everything has its place," at Mother Dog Studios on Saturday. | Ashley Evans/The Daily Cougar
Photography seniors at the School of Fine Arts put on a spectacular showcase at Mother Dog Studios on Saturday night. According to the student manual, “Everything has its Place,” is meant to showcase “a unifying factor-in an ever changing world- that everything has its place, in life and in art.”
The showcase included 15 students’ works of art with themes ranging from nature and color to patterns and symmetry.
“This event has been a tradition for seven to eight years and is an opportunity for the students to learn about gallery norms and how to work with space,” curator Stephan Hillerbrand said. “This is the student’s first legitimate exhibition and allows them to work together putting the theories they have learned over the year into practice and learn the role of an artist.”
The students learned all aspects of being a professional artist, including advertising, marketing, PR and fundraising. As a marketing strategy, students took advantage of social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter to reach out to the Houston arts community as well as family and friends.
There were multiple strategies to raise money for the event, including a calendar produced by the students featuring the 12 girls in the program as the 12 months of the year. Another fundraiser allowed the students to really go above and beyond for their art, auctioning themselves off for dates at the Mezzanine Lounge.
The exhibit displayed photos depicting the student’s life experiences, struggles, and triumphs and every student had something unique to bring to the collection.
Tanya Baradhi focused her portfolio on the life, culture and traditions of Lebanon, while Rowan Bigham described her work as a visual interpretation of absence and loss.
Stephanie Gobea’s collection, “Flight of the Polaroids,” was a story about her unique adventures and the Polaroid’s ability to capture fragments of information.
Charlotte Boman described her collection as “a visual breakdown of time and space.” The photos ranged from Renaissance inspired portraits to desolate landscapes of Houston. The student’s works will be on display at Mother Dog Studios for two months and for the duration of FotoFest 2010; an internationally recognized photography festival in which the studio is a participating space.
Parents and friends of the artists flocked to the opening Saturday to view their works and show support. Photography junior Mike Gault D.J.-ed the event, spinning through his extensive music library. The collections showcased this year focused on everything from the mundane to the extraordinary, making the visual cornucopia a delight.
The talent showcased left no doubt in the viewer’s minds that these young artists have a promising career ahead of them.
