Jenna Bacon, campus carrier asst. arts and living editor
The Moon Gallery is currently hosting an art exhibition showing artwork done by Berry students, faculty, staff and family members. The show is called “Homegrown”, and it was planned and curated by Associate Professor of Art Brad Adams. The show is themed around spreading and creating a sense of community through artistic expression. According to Adams, an artist from off campus was scheduled to show their work during the timeslot of this show but had to cancel. To prevent the gallery from being empty, Adams decided to curate an exhibition that would help expand the audience of these shows and involve the Berry community.
“I’m also trying to connect people to other communities across the campus,” Adams said. “So, I thought this was a way to kind of build it again coming out of the pandemic.”
Typically, showcases in the Moon Gallery include work from either professional artists or students currently taking art classes. “Homegrown” is a unique showcase because it includes artwork from throughout the Berry community. The first week of January, an email was sent out letting people know that the show was happening and what they needed to do to enter their work. Junior Lillian Sams said she enjoyed the show and hopes that there will be more galleries featuring works from members of the Berry community in the future.
“I saw so many pieces that were from names outside of the art department and I really thought that was special,” Sams said. “It’s a great way to show students what their fellow students, faculty and staff have done and give them a chance to appreciate it.”
Sophomore Nancy Daniel is an art major who has artwork in the show. Daniel said that both her pieces were from an art class she took called Figure Drawing. One of Daniel’s pieces is titled “Break A Leg” and is a graphite drawing depicting a skeleton striking a pose with lots of detailed shading and contrast. According to Daniel, “Break A Leg” was her final for the class and it was quite the challenge.
“It was very hard,” Daniel said. “It took me a very long time to do it. But it was so rewarding when it was done.”
Sams also had work in the show. Her work included a pencil-drawn portrait of her dad and a very detailed guitar strap. “Dad” was a portrait she drew of her father one day in the Krannert Lobby. Sams shared that her ceramics professor, Dennis Ritter, plays guitar and knew Sams enjoyed leather work so he asked her to make him a guitar strap. According to Sams, Ritter gave her an idea of how he’d like the guitar strap to look but gave her creative liberties over the project.
“I decided to include some skeletons, roses, and a thirteen-point lightning bolt,” Sams said. “It’s kind of “Grateful Dead inspired.”
“Homegrown” has a variety of artistic mediums and styles. Some of the art pieces include landscape paintings, woven textile pieces, nature photographs, a hand-sewn dress and cardboard sculptures. Every piece is given a number. Visitors can find a stack of handouts at the entrance of the gallery. These handouts list every piece in the gallery along with the artist, the title and the materials used to create it. The numbers on the handout corespond with the numbers next to each piece in the gallery.
“Homegrown” is free and open to the public in The Moon Gallery from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The exhibit will close this evening.