By Katie White
Western Herald
Three Western Michigan University painters have found inspiration in the littlest details of life.
Seniors Inja Cho, Sarah Knapp and Julia Van Orman, all WMU fine arts majors, are finally prepared to present campus with their senior show at the DeVries Gallery in the Richmond Center for Visual Arts.
The show consists of each artist’s own thesis project, but the end result was very much a collaborative effort.
“We definitely worked together and listened to each other,” Knapp said.
“Usually you get a mix of artists [such as] ceramists, potters, and painters, and it was great because we’re all painters and knew each other,” Knapp added. “We’ve been in the program together for years so it’s really exciting to share this experience with these two girls.”
Each separate exhibit has its own look and inspiration, but an underlying theme ties the three projects together.
The students drew from personal experiences within their own lives, which affected not only their art, but also their emotions. They worked off those specific emotions and attempted to translate it to the canvas.
“They all are similar,” Van Orman said. “Mine is about emotions and portraiture.”
“Sarah’s focuses on emotions and color, and Inja’s is more about family and portraits,” Van Orman added. “It’s the same subject matter even though they look completely different.”
Inja Cho, the headlining artist in this show, titled her exhibit “East Meets West.”
According to a press release, her recent trip to both Italy and Korea paved the way for her fusion of Renaissance style with a Korean look and flair.
She looked for the similarities between the two cultures down to the architecture, fashion, and history, which show in her works.
Cho had the idea to express both sides of who she is, a women with a Far East background living in the Western world.
Since Cho lives as a citizen of both split, seemingly different cultures, this duality became the root for her project.
“It’s basically a portrait of my life as both a Westerner and Easterner,” Cho said. “I tried to combine both of my cultures.”
Cho said that she also took inspiration from close family members and friends, some of whom related their feelings of culture shock and confusion to her.
“Everything was so peculiar to them,” Cho said. “[My exhibit] is like a self-portrait of my life using different family members and friends who are important to my life.”
For Knapp, nature has been one of the main sources of inspiration for her exhibit.
“Natural Feelings,” Knapp’s showcase, explains a range of emotions through color, texture and brushstrokes.
Painter Georgia O’Keefe was also a source of inspiration for Knapp.
“I loved how she looked at flowers in such a different way,” Knapp said. “I love the way she looked at nature. Its what got me started looking at nature the way I do now.”
The third exhibit, Van Orman’s “Finding Fate,” invites the audience to experience the artist’s inspiration.
Van Orman named her thesis “Finding Fate” because of her connection to her painter grandmother and her process of becoming an artist.
The exhibit is focused on portraiture and a five-piece panel set that was finished within the past six weeks.
The collection works on the psychological theory of “nature versus nuture” when looking at a person’s destiny.
“Its a narrative about my grandmother and my destiny as artist,” Van Orman said. “She was an oil painter and I got to use her oil set on all the paintings. My grandma died when I was three so the set is over 20 years old.”
Van Orman’s five panels are arranged in chronological order to explain the way art has shaped her destiny and relationship to a deceased relative.
Van Orman said that everything in her exhibit is there for a reason.
She even brought in pieces of her grandmother’s studio, such as a desk and materials, to bring her show full-circle.
The three exhibits have been long, thoughtful journeys that each artist is immensely proud of.
“East Meets West,” “Natural Feelings,” and “Finding Fate” will be showcased in the DeVries Gallery from Monday, March 8 to Friday, March 12.
DeVries Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday.
A reception for the showcases will be held on Friday, March 12 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
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