Lunch and Exhibition

Synergies Exhibition and Opening Reception

Radford University Art Museum at the Covington Center
Opening Reception today: Thursday, Jan. 30 at 5:00 p.m.

I honestly think that when something cool is happening at my University they plan the event when I'm working. Having an exhibition opening at 5:00pm my not seem odd to most people but it is the worst time when I have to work 2:30pm to 10:00pm dishing out salads. This being an "adult" college student thing is a lot hard than I thought it would be. Like a grown-up adult I thought my 30 minutes lunch break very carefully. I would eat while walking to the Art Museum and give myself 25-ish minutes to enjoy at the exhibit......But like a working college student I didn't factor in the wait-in line time, making the food time, or the walk time to my 30 minute lunch break. So I run to the Art Museum; no joke I ran to the front door of the building. Out of breath and red faced from both running and the 11 degree weather I enter the Exhibition.

Entering the building was simple but once in there I had no idea were to go. I thought I missed the Opening because I didn't see one sign or arrow pointing me to the art work. When I saw a scavenged table that I assumed was for the reception I knew I was in the the right place. Free food is always a good idea when opening an exhibit; later I observed that there was more food then art. Running out of time to look myself I asked a lovely women with a Radford polo on with a name tag just over her heart. 

Pointed in to the right door I was consumed with a lot of white. The first thing I spotted was a desk flooding with papers and booklets and catalogs. Sitting at the desk was a young man too consumed  with his computer to realize that I had entered. Confused what side of the desk to start on I shyly graded a booklet that had a "free catalog" sign beside it and went to the right.

The first wall had four works of art: 3 on pistols and 1 on the wall. The artists ,James and Umut Demirgüç Thurman had amazing works. They looked to be created from atlas and carved to look like tectonic plates. Two of the works were straight form the the book but the framed piece looked from afar to be painted but up close to be words from a book. As I traveled to the next group of work I had trouble following a path.

Should I keep to the walls or go to the piece standing alone in the middle? I kept to the wall. I believe I had chosen well because the works related very beautifully. A necklace made from map pages led me into walls of hand made jewelry. Each group was framed in a clear shadow box with a white background. This made it easy for a me to look beside or behind the jewelry to see it closely with out every being in contact with it. 
      
 The next group of work gave a more fun and whimsical feel than the jewelry. The only problem was I had no idea how to approach the artwork. When I found the front of the work and went to look over to the next work, it was the back. I felt like a squirrel weaving in and out, back and forth, to and fro, and having no idea which way to turn next. I do applaud the simple idea of placing a mirror under the smaller works of art, like the USB drive, buttons, and martini glasses. This gave the small space depth that if alone the art would of been over looked. 

This exhibit felt more like a store than a gallery for enjoyment. Each work of art had a price and had nothing around to distract the viewer from it. At the far end of the room was a informational gallery of long paragraphs with small font on them. I found myself getting bored and snapping a photo for later reading. The art was simple and so was how the exhibit that displayed it. Great for buyers but not for pure enjoyment. The art was beautiful and the style was nothing I had seen before. 

With only 5 minutes left in a lunch break, I rushed to the exit, signed the guest book, and said thank you to the young man engrossed in other things. As I rushed I saw someone that I assumed was one of the artists and kicked myself for not saying "hello" or "wow this is amazing" or "how did you do this".  Thus ending my countdown on this exhibition. To quote the museum viewer survey: 3 words I would describe this exhibition to a friend is, 1. Simple 2.Detailed and 3.Shiny. Too bad I forgot to hand in my survey at the front desk.