Bradbury Gallery hosts graduating art student exhibition, opening March 4

Feb. 25, 2010 -- The Bradbury Gallery will host the first of two spring exhibitions featuring graduating seniors from the Arkansas State University Department of Art, opening Thursday, March 4, at 5 p.m. The Bradbury Gallery is located in Fowler Center, 201 Olympic Drive, Jonesboro. Included in the Spring 2010 Senior Exhibition, Part I, will be Megan Collins, Jake Gambill, Lamar Jackson, and Shannon Smithee. The exhibition runs through Friday, April 2, and it is free and open to the public.

Born and raised in Paragould, Megan Collins grew up around creative women and encouraging family who inspired her to spend her life in the arts. This May, she will earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis in drawing and painting. While attending ASU, Collins was a member of many organizations and received numerous accolades. She was the studio art student representative for the Infrastructure committee, the president of the Printmaking Club, and a member of the Art Student Union. Twice she attended the Southern Graphics Council conference, was awarded three Art Department scholarships, a Friends of the Arts Material Award scholarship, four Arkansas Academic Challenge scholarships, four Dean’s scholarships, and a Greene County scholarship. She was also repeatedly included on the Chancellor’s and Dean’s Lists. Aside from her many academic achievements, she also exhibited several times in the ASU Printmaking Gallery and in the Art Student Union juried exhibitions, receiving an honorable mention on two occasions. Her work was purchased by the ASU Foundation and received the Brooks Museum’s Mid-South Scholastic Art Awards Scholarship Golden Key Award.

Themes of heirlooms, sewing, and the places around her will be seen in Collins’ work in the exhibition. After graduation, she will attend graduate school at Washington University in St. Louis, working to obtain a Master of Fine Arts degree.

Jake Gambill, born in Jonesboro, will graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis in painting this August. Just prior to graduating, he will attend the ASU Department of Art study abroad program in Florence, Italy. He participated in several exhibitions at ASU, including the 2007, 2008, and 2009 Art Student Union juried exhibitions, receiving an honorable mention this past year. He was also a member of the Art Student Union from 2008 to the present.

In discussing his work, Gambill says, “I find that the modern world has become too streamlined and mass produced. Everyday items, phones, radios, appliances, even buildings and cars, have come to favor function over form. I seek to remove my creations from the sterile, mundane place that our world has become. In my travels, as well as my artwork, I seek out the less-trodden paths. I love the old roads, the abandoned towns, the seedy attractions, and the roadside carnivals of the early twentieth century. I cherish the charm in these seedy, old, outmoded, overlooked, and decaying remnants of the past, and I strive to produce pieces which reflect this kitschy, forgotten beauty.”

After graduation, he plans to attend graduate school and pursue his career as an artist.

Lamar Jackson, who is from Lexa, Arkansas, will graduate this May and receive a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis in graphic design and a minor in studio art.  As a student, Jackson was a member of several organizations including the ASU Printmaking Club and the Art Student Union, serving as the treasurer in 2006 and 2007; the ASU Library committee; the ASU AIGA student group, serving as president from 2007 to 2009; the Department of Fine Art Grievance committee, and the Visiting Artist and Scholars committee, serving as a student representative.  Jackson also received a Dean’s scholarship, two ASU Art scholarships, and an Arkansas Department of Higher Education research grant. He participated in the 2009 ASU AIGA design show, exhibited in the 2009 ASU juried student exhibition, and was on the 2009 Dean’s List.

Shannon Smithee, from Jonesboro, began college at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, where she interned at the International Gallery of Contemporary Art. She transferred to ASU in 2005 and this May will receive a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis in sculpture. While at ASU, she participated in the Department of Art study abroad program in Florence, Italy, served as secretary and then president of the Art Student Union, as student representative for the ASU Fine Arts Center Gallery, and she earned an ASU Art Department scholarship. Her work has been included in an exhibition at Studio 303 on Main Street in Jonesboro and in the 2005 through 2009 Art Studen Union juried exhibitions, where in 2009 she received a juror’s award for her body of work.

In discussing her work, Smithee states that, “I do not have a single driving force behind my work but recently my concern for the world and a desire to make a difference have emerged as topics.  As an optimist, I want to believe that it is possible for individuals to make a difference, but reality makes it hard to remain optimistic in our turbulent world.” Currently, she is an assistant at the Bradbury Gallery and teaches art at the Foundation of Arts. After graduation, Smithee plans to travel and pursue a graduate degree in art.

The Bradbury Gallery will observe the ASU spring break and will close from March 20 through March 29. Bradbury 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, contact Les Christensen, director of the Bradbury Gallery, at lchristensen@astate.edu, or call the Bradbury Gallery at (870) 972-2567.

Images, from top:
Megan Collins
Nettleton BP, 2007
pastel on Stonehenge paper

Jake Gambill
Break Time, 2009
oil on panel

Lamar Jackson
Untitled, 2009
silkscreen

Shannon Smithee
@ home, 2008
nylon string
 

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