With the commencement of second semester, Xavier students are back and busier than ever – but the Stark gallery remains a place of serenity and expression in the midst of the bustle. The gallery is kicking off the new year with an exciting new exhibit: the artwork of our very own faculty. Keep reading for the artists’ insights into their pieces on display.

Ms. Dunn: “Stretched Bouquets,” “Blue Boy”

“Much of my artwork investigates the history of painting. I started the series of “Stretched Bouquets” out of a fascination with Dutch flower paintings (from a few centuries ago), and how those paintings were designed to remind us of the impermanence of things.  In my paintings, I interpret this into literally stretching out the forms and dragging the brush-strokes in an exaggerated manner. In “Blue Boy”, I’m playing with the satin bows adorning the shoes of a fancy young aristocrat in Gainsborough’s painting of the same name.”

Mrs. Ward

“Landscape Hole” (a 2 channel video installation run through Raspberry Pi)

“My work holds two consistent ideas: 1. Raising brave bold girls and 2. The outside brought inside. Landscape Hole speaks to a combination of these two ideas. The locations of the landscapes captured by the camera centers around my youngest daughter. The first (left) landscape is from the wild places around Rio Salado where she practiced crew everyday. She wasn’t old enough to drive, so I was her driver. I became very familiar with this area. The second (right) landscape is located in New York City, where my daughter attends college. On a recent visit, we walked to the High Line, an elevated park which was created on an old railroad line on the west side on Manhattan. Both locations remind me of her, then and now. These videos become markers of our relationship. The video moves slowly in order to savor the memories. The ‘hole’, crudely created in Photoshop, is there to frustrate the viewer. We want to see the whole with all of the details, but our view is obstructed. Like my relationship with my daughter, I can see her through my point of view as her mother, but I don’t see all of her. “