By Amanda Smith//
Hood College’s Art & Archaeology department is planning a number of exhibitions and inviting guest speakers to campus this semester.
The Ceramic Arts program recently received a $10,000 institutional grant facilitated by the Frederick Arts Council, prompting an increase in art-related events on campus. The college plans to host various presentations with guest speakers both on online platforms and in person this semester.
“This grant will allow the Ceramic Arts Program to invite artists to enrich our students, staff, faculty and community members by sharing various artists’ perspectives of making and living a life as an artist,” said Chaz Martinsen, the director of the Ceramic Arts program.
Students and community members will have the opportunity to have access to a diverse group of artists that span ages, lifestyles, artistic mediums and geographic locations all in one semester, Martinsen said.
“We’ve got seven artists doing online talks about an hour long,” Martinsen said. “And that’s mostly the artists talking about their studio practice, the ideas they work with, and then with a Q&A available as well.”
Additionally, the department is planning to hold two upcoming symposium events in April, with one of them being hosted by three Hood alumni. According to Martinsen, the event is anticipated to be an intensive workshop where students can see how these artists work and discuss their creative process with them.
“We have a group show that will be going on in parallel as well in the Whitaker Gallery,” Martinsen said. “Each artist will have two to five pieces in the show depending on the size of their work, and then there will be a reception for that show on April 29.”
Furthermore, artist Erin Daniels, who uses the pseudonym Margaret James, is presenting a solo exhibit of her work at the Hodson Gallery in the Tatem Arts Center. The exhibit, titled “Garden of the Soul,” opens on March 20 and closes on April 14, with an opening reception on April 1.
Encouraged by her grandmother, Daniels has been painting watercolor florals for over 40 years. Her botanical paintings serve as memoirs that memorialize the inspiring women of her family.
According to Daniels, her upcoming exhibit is a culmination of years of research that “explores legacy, lineage, and a sense of place as expressed through botanical watercolors.” The work in her exhibit was heavily inspired by a small, tattered book given to her after the death of her grandmother.
“Upon first touching it and reading the heartfelt inscription inside its cover, I felt as if I held a living link to my past,” Daniels said in her artist statement. “The seed was planted for an artistic endeavor so encompassing I could not even imagine it at the time. That tiny seed has flourished over years of research, work, and contemplation, to finally blossom with this exhibit.”
According to Martinsen, these presentations and exhibitions are a great way to see how other artists from various regions approach and solve different problems they come across during their artistic process.
“They’re wonderful, it shows what our students are doing and what local artists are doing,” Martinsen said. “It really helps spread the joy of the arts.”
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