Article by
Madeline Pyle
Lyon College
Lyon College upperclassmen art students and the Batesville Area Arts Council (BAAC) will host the pop-up gallery “Art Walk” this Saturday, Dec. 8, from 5 to 7 p.m. on Main Street.
There will be two exhibitions, one group will be showing in the former Batesville Computing building on 133 S. Broad while a second group will be exhibiting in the Landers building at 332 E. Main. This event is free and open to the public. It will coincide with the exhibition: George Chlebak retrospective at the Batesville Area Arts Council.
The first exhibition in the former Batesville Computing building will be focused around humanity through various media and perspectives, according to Dustyn Bork, assistant professor of art at Lyon. Kacy Perkins will be using sugar as a medium to experiment with proportions and ideas revolving around beauty. Morgun Henson will be using embroidery to create a self-portrait and to use color to express the sensation of emotions. Madison Bangert will be exploring unexpected horror in various scenes in 2D. McKinley Streett will be exploring the abstracting process of death through sculptures of dead flies.
“These pieces together act as representations of the artists and their qualms dealing with the human experience,” said Bork. “Kacy [Perkins] focuses on struggling with the unrealistic standards of beauty that take over the media by taking this concept to extremes. Morgun [Henson] focuses on art as a form of self- expression through colors and needlework. Madison [Bangert] focuses on the abnormal in various ways as a series to show the absurdity of life. McKinley [Streett] focuses on dead flies to bring attention to their unexpected beauty by immortalizing them into sculptures. Together this series acts as a unit about life and the artists’ individual understandings of it.”
The second exhibition “Cartoon Theory” will be hosted on the third floor of the Landers building on Main Street. This exhibition showcases the work of Hannah Qualls and Charlie Gills.
The show is based upon the theory of cartoons, according to Bork. Working alongside one another in their advanced studio concepts course, Qualls and Gills discovered their shared love for traditional cartoons and comics. Qualls has spent the semester re-envisioning an original work of fiction into a visual novel, creating a handmade comic book. Gills has remodeled toy dolls using paint, fabric, and clay to create new figures with unique features. Both bodies of work pay homage to traditional cartoonists by utilizing classic methods of storytelling and composition. Qualls’s visual novel features her own unique style, though she has drawn inspiration from modern Western cartoons. Gills’s series demonstrates her creative re-envisioning of her favorite childhood characters.
“In comparison to conceptual and modern artists, cartoonists are often overshadowed in the world of art,” said Bork. “Qualls and Gills aim to showcase the typical cartoonist’s process and the complexity of envisioning and bringing cartoons into life.”
