Bradbury Gallery announces Fall 2007 Senior Exhibition

Nov. 21, 2007 -- On Thursday, Dec. 6 at 5 p.m., the Bradbury Gallery will present the Fall 2007 Senior Exhibition. Held at the end of each fall and spring semester, this exhibition features graduating students from the Arkansas State University Department of Art. This term, the four featured artists are Ginger Grahn, Amber Heard, John Heath, and Jorel Martin. 

Grahn, of Paragould, is currently working on her bachelor of fine arts degree with an emphasis in art education. She has exhibited her work in the last three ASU juried student art exhibitions, she has won an award for her work in a graphic design competition, she has designed a logo for a local business, and she has been commissioned as a portrait artist. In the spring of 2007, she was placed on the ASU Chancellor’s List for academic achievement. 

Grahn states that at an early age she began her interest in art and cannot remember a time when she did not want to draw. Her life-long love of art and her interest in education is clear in her statement, “My artwork is designed to appeal to children, with the hopes of bringing back the lost art of imagination to them. It is a sad state of affairs when children no longer use their imaginations, or know how to dream.”

Heard, a resident of Jonesboro, plans to complete her bachelor of fine arts degree in May. She has been a recipient of an ASU Art Scholarship and an Arkansas Challenge Scholarship for academic excellence.

When discussing her work, Heard stated, “Every work in the show was created after my father was diagnosed with lung cancer…The tentacles represent the disease, creeping about, threatening to draw the last breath from its victim.”  She continues, “In a way, my pieces have served as a diary. Each piece changes its mood based on the progression and loss of my father.”  After graduation, she hopes to have her work published in children’s storybooks.

Heath, from Marion, will graduate in December with a bachelor of fine arts degree in studio art with an emphasis in printmaking. He served as president of the ASU Art Student Union, has co-authored two books about Elvis Presley, and has exhibited his work in the 2007 ASU Juried Student Art Exhibition. 

Heath’s artist’s statement reads, “An elderly man sits at his kitchen table, staring out at the early morning fog. A bowl of plastic fruit occupies the oaken space in front of him. The radio hums gently in the background. Faint music gives way to a fireside voice telling him about a vacuum cleaner that will start the revolution, a revolution lying dormant until he dials the number being given to him. The old man’s eyes become glassy as he waits for his wife to join him at the table, but then he remembers that his wife is working at the church this morning. He continues to sit. The house settles around him. The total of these experiences is life, and life is art.” After graduation, he plans to attend graduate school at Arkansas State University.

Martin, of Oakland Park, Florida will receive a bachelor of fine arts degree with an emphasis in drawing and painting. He, too, was interested in art at an early age. Martin will be represented by several of his landscape drawings, many of which were inspired by his home state.  He explains, “Through my pictures you get a glimpse of paradise every day--what I see when I close my eyes and think of home.”

The exhibition opens on Thursday, Dec. 6, with a reception, and continues through Friday, Dec. 14. Gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, and 2-5 p.m. on Sunday. The exhibition is free and open to the public. For additional information, please contact Les Christensen, director of the Bradbury Gallery, at (870) 972-3471.

Artworks (from top):
Ginger Grahn, Paragould
“Perry’s Serenade,”  2007
oil on canvas
24 x 30 inches

Amber Heard, Jonesboro
“Chemo and Radiography,”  2006
digital print
9.75 x 6.5 inches

John Heath, Marion, AR
“I Am My Brother’s Keeper,”  2006
silkscreen
30 x 11 inches

Jorel Martin
“Colorful Sunset,”  2007
pastel on paper
15 x 25 inches

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