BY PHILIPPE CARON
Students from the Art and Art History program at Sheridan College held a second edition of their exhibit The Middle Child at the Sheridan Gallery (AA-Wing).
The exhibit runs from Nov. 29 to Dec. 9 2018. It is the second installation of an exhibit that originally took place at the Women’s Art Association of Canada on Prince Arthur Ave last summer.
It is completely organized and curated by third-year students. And for the first time it is having an Act 2, which means it has the same group of students organizing it who are now fourth year students.
Work from 22 students is being featured this time around, up from the original 15 shown in summer.
The event is free to the public and is open 24 hours a day.
Sarah Pereux, a fourth-year Art and Art History student, was the curator and also a exhibiting artist.
“I learned about curating, I have taken curating classes and lectures but it’s nothing like actually doing it in person. It’s a completely different experience,” said Pereux
In the more recent work she used a Canadian identity theme with the Canada goose as the main symbol, loonies representing an economic infestation, dandelions representing an environmental infestation, and tumors as an organic infestation. The overall piece represents her vision of today’s society.
Curating, teaching and being a practicing artist is what Pereux intends to move toward as she approaches her last semester.
The Sheridan Sun spoke with Art and Art History program coordinator John C. Armstrong about this intensive split program between Sheridan College and University of Toronto Mississauga.
The program offers two days a week at each campus where students obtain a diploma from Sheridan College and a Honours Bachelor of Arts from UTM.
The degree program allows for the students to do all of their theory in a university setting while getting hands-on practical experience at Trafalgar Campus. It is a great way of combining both worlds to prepare them for the real world of art.
The Middle Child (Acts 1 & 2) title is a representation of students that are in the middle of their studies practicing what is expected of them in the real world, from producing the art to curating to being present during the display of an exhibit.
On Nov. 29, there was an evening reception that ran from 5 to 6 p.m. where all the artists gathered for a show and tell of their work. The event was free for anyone mostly profs, students, family and friends. Free snacks and beverages were available for all attendees.
“There are six disciplines, painting, drawing, sculpture, print media, photography and design,” which are all used within the exhibit, said Armstrong.
The Sun spoke with another student-artist Veronika Garbowska who has a particular method of producing art.Garbowska uses a religious theme in her work that stems from personal feelings about Christian iconography from the text of Ezekiel.
“The common misconception is that angels are pretty boys with soft rainbow wings, which isn’t in the text at all, they actually have four wings many faces, one’s an eagle one’s a human face one’s an ox and this is all represented behind the plexiglass”
The piece represents her own view of religion in comparison to what is perceived through many religious beliefs.
Garbowska was forced to drop drawing because of severe carpel tunnel and tendinitis.
“I was able to do enough small drawings that I could work for a short burst of time and do big details and not fine details”.
“The plexiglass was to add a layer that repeats the drawing in a quiet and sombre fallen angel feeling. That shows that the angel feels joy, sorrow, anguish,” which ultimately was a reflection of her own mental state about drawing.
Garbowska has already spent a semester in Florence and expects to travel the world more to expand her knowledge of art. She hopes to learn as much as possible to eventually obtain a PhD and become a prof in art history to teach the history of the art-making practice.
