Unshadowed Land by Nicholas Galanin is an outdoor sculpture exhibition on the Belk Visual Arts Center’s lawn that was created during the 2021 fall semester by students, staff, and community members. The sculpture is a site of exposed soil in the shape of the shadow of the monument of Andrew Jackson that is currently standing in Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C. On February 10, 2022, community members, students, staff, and members of the Catawba Nation came together to take the next step for the installation: amending the soil. The next goal is to transition the site into a garden, planting Catawba...
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While working on a small farm in Ferrum, Virginia last summer, I consumed solely organic products and foods, and immersed myself in the land through regenerative agriculture and sustainable land practices. This fundamentally altered the way I interpreted my artistic practice and ignited a switch in my material choices from paint and digital collages to eggshells, flour paste, and reused paper towels. Now composed of mostly biodegradable and organic materials, my most recent work explores themes of accumulation, sustainability, and a greater sense of connection with the earth. All in One Basket is a journey of my transformation in material...
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Meet Anna Murray, one of the returning interns on staff at the Van Every/Smith Galleries! Anna Murray is a Junior studying Art History at Davidson College from Avon, Connecticut. Learn more about Anna: What has been your favorite exhibition during your time at Davidson? “From the Earth Rise Radiant Beings (Liên Trươn)” Check out the exhibit here: https://www.davidsoncollegeartgalleries.org/dcag-exhibitions/7835/ What is your favorite thing about working in the gallery? “I love getting to explore our collection and new acquisitions.” What are you most excited to do this semester in the art gallery or art in general? “Learning more about installing and curating.”...
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I have spent much of my life on, in and under the Ocean’s surface in many places around the world. During the course of this journey I have found that, in my quest to study and really understand the myriad ecosystems that exist beneath the air/water interface, I had to find a way to become an aquatic denizen, or as close as a human can. Emulating the mammalian Order Pinniped, I discovered the art of the breath hold, what is known in the freediving community as “Apnea diving”. Apneaism allows me to slip into a completely different world seamlessly and...
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New Acquisition: Alice Neel’s “Mother and Child (Nancy and Olivia)”
Written by: Sarah Willoughby '25
February 24th, 2022
Alice Neel (American, b. 1900)Mother and Child (Nancy and Olivia), 1982Lithograph in colors on Arches paper33.5 x 30.625 inGift of John Andrew MacMahon, '95 Alice Neel was a New York expressionist artist, widely considered to be one of the greatest female artists of the 20th century. Born in Pennsylvania, Neel studied art at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women. As she got older, she developed a strong passion for social justice, which would later be displayed in her work. In the 1930s, Neel moved to New York where she began painting portraits of friends, family, fellow artists, left-wing writers,...
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