By Samantha Fournier
Central’s Chen Gallery was swarming with students when the Identity exhibit opened Thursday afternoon. Young faces filled the room, eating cheese and crackers and sipping on wine and other beverages, while admiring the various pieces of artwork at the exhibit.
The show featured works by Nina Bentley, Harriet Caldwell, Reverend Howard Finster, Shannon Gagne, Sam McKinniss, Kenneth Hayes Miller, Samuel Lovett Waldo and Nate Larson.
While various mediums were used by the artists, the artwork on display felt like a cohesive collection of pieces that worked together.
Harriet Caldwell’s “Labyrinth of the Mind” hung against the back wall of the gallery. Textured circular disks were strung on threads hanging down beside the many other strands like a beaded curtain. Each disk was painted differently and gave a different interpretation.
A little farther down on the back wall, Caldwell had the Holocaust-motivated mixed media piece of two children made mostly out of latex called “Drawing-Out forcing In” on display. “The piece that I got the most from was the Holocaust piece. [It was both] the association and the medium she used,” said junior Staci Stamm.
As Drawing Professor Terry Fader roamed around the room she said that “I think it’s very, very intelligent. [There are] a lot of different approaches to identity, not only in media and method, also in content.”
“Corporate Executive Wife’s Service Bracelet II” by Bentley, which is part of the New Britain Museum of American Art’s permanent collection captivated onlookers. Polished shiny silver teapots were attached to a thick dulled metal chain.
“I’m wanting to comment on the things I see making statements. [I’m] not interested in beauty,” Bentley says of her artwork. Bentley is a collector and, often, the collections inspire the work she creates. “I combine my collections with my ideas,” said Bentley.
Gagne’s pieces were also exhibited in the center of the gallery on small black podiums. Each of her ceramic pieces was in tune with the other. “Its been my transition into motherhood making connections between the natural world and the human world and how they’re related,” Gagne said of what inspires her.
“I really like Nate Larson’s pieces. Each one has a story behind it and you don’t have to guess it,” said student Shannon Staehly of Larson’s digital photography pieces. Larson’s work captured alumni Eric Capitao’s attention as well.
Whether students enjoy mixed media works by Bentley, portraits by McKinniss, or the ceramic pieces by Gagne, the Identity exhibit in the Chen Gallery provides something to please every visitor’s visual palate. The exhibit runs through March 4th and gallery hours are Monday through Friday from one to four p.m.
