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The weeks between March 7th to April 8th the Fulton and Atrium Galleries at Salisbury University will be transformed into a Wildland. Everything from modeled, miniature landscapes, to breathe taking photographs will be on display. The artists in the show include: Ryan Browning, Travis Childers, Frank Hallam Day, Elizabeth Hoeckel, Savanna Leigh, Susan Main, Joshua Wade Smith and Peter Stern. Curated by Laura Amussen this is just a preview of what you shall see when you step into Wildand...
Each artist’s story behind the works of art is just as captivating as the art itself. Ryan Browning’s Image Guardian is inspired by his childhood love of fantasy books and video games. He reminisces about escaping reality and hopes viewers can find an escape as well. He combines the real world landscape with the ideas of idealism. His work is a dream; it creates an existence between two worlds.
Brickscapes by Travis Childers raises the question, what is landscape to you? Travis displays how landscape is now mostly man made instead of naturally formed. He is offended by man’s idea of landscape and explains, “Natural materials, some taking centuries to form, become disposable tools, used up and tossed away without a second thought.” Childers' work poses the question: what is nature and what is the definition of natural?
Another controversial piece called, Laredo 2, by Frank Hallam Day, is an eerie image of an RV deep in the middle of the woods. The RV is isolated from the ordinary world lost in a landscape of dusk, dark, and haunting scenery. The picture looks staged but Day assures it is not, the inhabitants of the Florida home did not even know he was there to take the picture. The image itself is strange and it suggests isolation from humanity, but also a pollution of nature.
Over the Mountain by Joshua Wade Smith was a mixed-media performance originally performed at Goucher College in 2011. Like much of Smith's work, here he pushes his own limits of self-efficiency and endurance in a determined effort to camp, climb and conquer every mountain, especially those that are self-imposed. For the SU iteration of Wildland, Smith will be creating a new mixed-media performance, and on Wednesday March 7th, 2012 he will be on campus for an Artist's Talk in Fulton Hall 111 at 5:00 p.m.
The unique pictures of Peter Stern are more appreciated once the background of how these shots are taken is revealed. Stern actually flies a plane and photographs at the same time. A difficult task but Stern manages to take breath-taking photographs on his day long journeys at low altitudes. From this preview one can see the various type of work found in the Wildland exhibition. The artists' reaction to the relationship of mankind to the landscape reveals a dark side, however it also provides us with new ways to appreciate the value of our world. This is WILDLAND.
Written by Rachel A. Wells Click here to view the catalog for this exhibition.
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