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| kellen kjera / NL |
| UAA art major, Alex Phillips was
thrilled at the opportunity to display her collection
or “circus freak, fairy tail” style
puppets in the Campus Center Gallery. |
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By Rosey Robards
Northern Light
If you pop by the Campus Center Gallery this month, you
might be perplexed by the diverse display of talent showcased.
Most gallery shows have a set theme that limits the type
or style of art that is displayed. But after the “Rock,
Paper, Scissors” juried art show scheduled to occur
this month was cancelled, four University of Alaska Anchorage
art majors and a local comic strip artist Lee Post came
together to fill the gap with a show titled “Life
Abstractions.”
This broad definition allowed all of the artists to come
together under a common theme but at the same time encompassed
their diverse styles.
“We thought it would kind of embody the way we interpret
what we see,” said Enzina Marrari, who played a large
part in putting the show together.
Marrari had mentioned that she was interested in having
a show in the gallery sometime this year just as Campus
Life became aware that the “Rock, Paper, Scissors”
show was not going to happen. So Marrari called up friends
Post, Amy Devereux, Beatriz Oms and Alex Phillips and the
group put the show together in under two weeks.
“I told them, ‘I don’t have enough work
on my own to have a show but I could probably get a few
people from the art department too,’” Marrari
said.
Some of the highlights from the show include pieces by
Phillips, who saw this as an opportunity to showcase her
“circus freak, fairy tail” style puppets.
“One thing that’s really good about that room
is that is designed specifically for artwork,” Phillips
said. “I like the idea of being able to put them in
the center of the room, so people can walk around the piece.”
Works by Marrari include poetry she wrote as well as excerpts
from Marge Piercy’s “What big girls are made
of.” One piece that hangs in the far, right corner
of the gallery started as a poem and eventually became a
multi-media piece of art.
“I thought I could incorporate all of these aspects
to make the poem stronger,” Marrari said.
The art seemed to fit well together. Marrari said she
thought it would be best if all of the artists in the show
were friends because it was a last minute production.
This is the first show for nearly all of the artists,
although, individually they have had pieces in shows and
even won some awards for their work.
Post has his work showcased in the Anchorage Press, a
weekly newspaper in Anchorage, every week. His comic strip,
“Your Square Life” has been running in the paper
for about two years. Post said he jumped at the opportunity
to have his work displayed in the gallery.
“I never had a gallery show before,” Post
said. “I am a self-taught artist.”
Post was putting together a portfolio for a magazine in
South Africa called “Itch,” so coming up with
pieces for the show was not a problem.“Life Abstractions”
will be on display in the Campus Center Gallery from Oct.
9 to Oct. 23.
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