On Monday, Feb. 18 the UTM Department of Visual and Theatre Arts held a pop-up exhibition of artwork by the ART450 Professional Practices Seminar class and a small reception at the UTM REED Center in downtown Martin.
Six students from UTM were selected to display their artwork in the exhibition: Kaitlyn Fransden, Anna Lax Gatti, Alexandria McNeal, Rachel Roberts, Caitlin Sanchez and Heather Wilson. The pieces of art that were displayed ranged from acrylic painting on canvas to pottery.
Rachel Roberts, a senior Visual Arts major had four pieces in the exhibition titled “I am not a machine”, “Exhaustion”, “Daydreaming” and “Iron”.
“Honestly, I like them all because I just enjoy creating and enjoy the process, but “Iron” went to California in January of 2019 for an exhibit called “ELEMENTS” for the International Year of the Periodic Table and it got an honorable mention in the exhibit,” Roberts said.
Roberts went on to explain that her inspiration for the piece was the ongoing idea of creating an atom. She wanted to do a wood cut, which is a form of print making where you carve the image into the wood, ink the block and then print it on paper.
Roberts said, “I’d never done this process before and I thought this image would be a simple process for that.”
Anna Lax Gatti, another UTM senior, Studio Art major, had three pieces in the exhibition. She said her inspiration to study art derived from a place of self-expression.
“I’ve always loved art, it’s an anxiety and stress reliever for me,” Gatti said.
All of the pieces in the exhibit are available for purchase. You can contact Lane Last at lanelast@utm.edu or 731-881-7489 to facilitate a purchase from any of the artists.
