Most people think of an art exhibition as an event where people go to engage with and observe the art that is on display, but in reality, the art meets the audience. Art has the power to move people, to transform and to change the world. Even small art shows have a notable impact on the surrounding community.
In honor of the Inauguration of President, Ronald A. Matthews, Eastern’s 10th President, Eastern University is hosting numerous events to celebrate the history, legacy, impact and future of the school. To celebrate the visual arts of the community, Eastern hosted their own art exposition from March 18 to March 24 in the Warner Library. Everyone from Eastern including students, faculty, staff, alumni, etc., were all welcomed to participate and enter any art piece into the show. While the focus of inauguration week was geared towards transformational love, other topics included spirit, mission, Eastern’s campus, as well as anything else inspiring.
Eastern is home to many talented people, and this was clearly seen while walking through all the creative artwork during the week. Generally, the art show consisted of mostly 2D compositions, with only a few 3D pieces.
I sat down with Kaitlyn Frankenfield, a student at Eastern, and asked her about her opinion of the art show.
“One of the works that I found to be very interesting was a photography series by Karen Hughes,” Frankenfield said.
Hughes called it “Colors of Eastern”. There were four pictures of a variety of places on Eastern’s campus, and there was a noticeable pattern.
“It seemed like she set up her artwork in a way to display each season of Eastern. I found this to be very fascinating because just like Eastern goes through different seasons of the year, its community also goes through different seasons of life,” Frankenfield said. Perhaps one interpretation is that people of all kinds gather to support Eastern and through each season of life, there will always be people by your side.
I also talked to Elaina McGarrigle, another student at Eastern, and asked her what she thought about the art show. She pointed out another compelling piece that saw which was done by Shy’Anne Turner. She called it “Bystanders”.
“It was a very gripping and engaging piece. For her artwork, she used oil on a mirror background and on it, she created what looked to be a man who was cut, torn and bleeding. I believe that she wanted this man to resemble Jesus. What I found to be the most engaging part of the piece was the mirror. When standing in front of her art, the viewer can see themselves in the mirror. It could be an immensely visual and literal representation of what it means to have Christ die for us,” McGarrigle said.
While these two art creations seemed to reach out to these women, there were still numerous other amazing works that might touch others in a way the artist never thought possible.
Josh Steen 
Grace Nealy 
Ethan Goonewardene