Five Students Explore Personal and Interdisciplinary Interests in End-of-Year Exhibition

When each academic year draws to a close, seniors step into the spotlight at the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery at Holy Cross.

This year, the work of five students is on display in Surfacing: Works from the 2009 Senior Concentration Seminar. The paintings, films, and sculptures reveal five distinct styles and motivations, ranging from the introspective to the interdisciplinary. The exhibit runs through May 22.

Laura Radville, an art and biology double major, takes a political stance and incorporates her scientific studies in her work. Environmental irresponsibility particularly bothers her, and she has chosen to depict that in terms of the consequences on animals. Radville explains, “I learn about things in my biology classes that frustrate me, and I’m able to take it out in my art.”

Radville’s series of small paintings depict various instances of animal abuse, including cock fighting, over-fishing, oil spills, and the effects of global warning. “There are many variations of mistreatment of animals, happening all around us,” she says.

Art and psychology double major Laura Andrews also uses her artwork as an extension of her other research. In the show, Andrews contributes two short films and a wall-sized storyboard of screen captures, all inspired by her coursework on mental disorders. She sums up her guiding principle throughout the project: “I took my research and asked, how can I see it? What does it look like to live this?”

About her film style, Andrews says, “I wanted to capture moments that might not otherwise be recognized and tell a story.”

“The manic depression-inspired video is about rhythm, with the pace alternating between slow and very fast. The schizophrenia-inspired video is supposed to give a feeling of confusion,” she explains. The videos play on a loop from two projectors.

Another student combines both personal and political history in his large-scale paintings. John Vo, an art and philosophy double major, uses his pieces to chronicle the fallout from the Vietnam War, which caused his parents to immigrate to America.

Integrating the few details he knows about his family’s wartime experience with photographs and his imagination, Vo’s series of paintings take the form of a narrative about the Vietnamese experience in exile.

“The story begins with two paintings of the two means of escape from Vietnam: on foot to Thailand, or at sea sailing as far as you can,” he says. From there Vo interprets different historical incidents in Vietnamese-American culture and explores conflicted feelings about nationality.

Tom LeComte chose to revisit the places of his childhood to gather the elements of his sculptures, collecting laurel branches from the forest where he played as a boy. This art major felt driven by his materials in his work, explaining, “wood appealed to me, because it’s easy to work with. The laurel branches are curious, with unique curves and waves.”

Manipulating the natural ridges of the wood, LeComte added papier-mâché nodes and densely woven layers of yarn. The resulting sculptures resemble trees, with branches assembled to stretch across the floor and toward the ceiling, but in surreal shapes and swirls of color.

“I enjoy the abstract qualities,” he says. “The shapes communicate with one another.”

With 40 sculptures on display, art major Matt Grogan provides the greatest variety of works within the exhibit. His small sculptures range between several inches and a foot tall, conveying a perceptible presence despite their scale.

Grogan focused his work by “ruminating on objects and materials,” carefully pairing components that would both complement and contrast with one another. He matched wood, here categorized by its “romantic associations and strong, stiff fibers,” with string, another fiber that is limp and flexible.

The pieces sit on shelves that wrap around the room from floor to ceiling. Grogan has created several series of sculptures, grouped by material.

By Lexie Winslow ’09

Pictured: Toxic by Tom LeComte. Laurel wood and yarn. 6’ x 6.5’.