2016 Juried FMVA Exhibition features 29 artists, including NDSU students.
The ongoing exhibition at the Memorial Union Gallery explores the ways in which regional artists interpret their experiences and examines how different art forms interact.
The 2016 Juried FMVA Exhibition features pieces incorporating a variety of media. Twenty-nine artists contributed, several of whom are NDSU students. Many of the featured artworks are experimental and integrate eclectic, artistic techniques and unique concepts. Most of the pieces are highly evocative, exploring themes of violence, despair, apathy and rebirth.
“This space is like a laboratory,” says Anthony Faris, the coordinator and curator of collections at the gallery. He considers the FMVA exhibition the culmination of months of creative research and experimentation.
“(This exhibition) is a celebration of regional artists’ insight,” Faris says.
Faris, a Georgia native, suggests art is both an introspective exercise and a representation of the context in which it was produced. Accordingly, he believes local exhibitions represent an expression of our region’s collective identity.
Accompanying this exhibition is a slim chapbook, entitled “Latent.” It contains nine short poems, each of which represents an interpretation of a piece featured in the exhibition.
“‘Latent’ is student-focused,” said Faris. Its editor and all six of its contributors are students. Subsequent issues of “Latent” will accompany future exhibitions.
Faris says he believes “Latent” encourages observers to participate more fully in the exhibition for a more interactive experience. Observers take a more active role in the exhibition as they make connections between the poems and the pieces by which they were inspired.
The 2016 Juried FMVA Exhibition closes Thursday. Following the FMVA exhibition, the Memorial Union Gallery’s next exhibition will be the “Made in the FM” collection. This exhibition will display the work of local photographers and their images of the F-M region.
If you are interested in contributing to future issues of “Latent,” contact Anthony Faris at ndsu.mugallery@ndsu.edu.