Exhibitions show undergraduate art

Greek philosopher Hippocrates once famously said that life is short, and art is long.

But an exhibit of UNC undergraduate work focuses on the impermanence of art, rotating through artists in rapid succession.

Various art students and student groups will be showing their artwork this week in the John and June Allcott Gallery in Hanes Art Center in one-day-only exhibitions. The shows run from Monday to Friday, with a reception with the artist or artists following each individual show.

Monday features the ART 300 studio art major class, taught by professor elin o’Hara slavick, in its showing of “Common Icon.” Tuesday features senior Anthony Hamilton as he curates and explores “The Power of Habit,” dealing with repetition in various forms of art.

Wednesday will feature the Undergraduate Art Association’s “Primary Materials,” making works out of construction paper and finger paint among other materials. Junior Rachel Johnson will be performing and showing the multimedia project “Henna ‘n’ Placenta” Thursday, and on Friday, lecturer Joy Drury Cox’s “Introduction to Photography 1” class will present “The Architecture of an Institution.”

Jina Valentine, an associate art professor and director of the Allcott Gallery, started this exhibition last year as part of a curatorial arts class that she was teaching, dividing the class into groups of three and allowing them to showcase various forms of art in all media.

“The reason that I wanted to do this show was that I think that there’s a perception in the art department that the Allcott Gallery was kind of off-limits to the undergraduates,” she said. “And, since they don’t have an undergraduate gallery, I thought this would be a good opportunity to get the relations going and maybe to show work or some kind of performance or a lecture in a professional setting.”

Unlike last year, the process of choosing exhibitions was based on proposals submitted by the undergraduates explaining their work, making the show more competitive.

slavick said that she let her students use this exhibit as a means of preparing for future shows and gallery exhibitions.

“It’s a wonderful way of teaching students outside of the classroom how to do a show and what it takes to publicize — Facebook event page or an email blast or a poster or a reception — but they also get this great opportunity to show and get a line on their resume for an exhibition. They’re pretty excited to be involved,” she said.

Sydney Shaw, a junior studio art major, is a student in the ARTS 300 class. She is displaying a piece called “Seattle Crabs,” a charcoal painting of crabs based on a picture she took while in the city.

“This is a perfect opportunity for us to get together and put all of our work together and show it to the public,” she said.

Johnson, a junior studio art major, will be presenting a multimedia and physical installation on Thursday, combining sculptural structures, performance and multimedia to explore how people decide on what products to consume, specifically focusing on the hair product Henna ‘n’ Placenta, which contains goat placenta extract.

“I’ve been preparing for it a lot, and it’s been using a lot of my resources, but I think that it’s really nice that I’ve gotten a lot of help from fellow students and the faculty,” she said. “I saw the (flyer) for the 24-hour exhibitions, and I was automatically like, ‘I have to do this.’”

slavick said she appreciates the opportunity for undergraduates to showcase their work and encourages the UNC community to come out and see it for themselves.

“I think they should support the student community, and I also think that it’s going to be really great art, and it’s made by students,” she said. “I don’t know what every show is going to be, but I’m sure it’ll be really interesting no matter what it is.”

arts@dailytarheel.com