Dolphin and senior art majors put a little bit of
By NICOLE HADDAD
Scene Writer
For Colleen Dolphin, a future in art was not even a consideration before she came to college. With only a few art classes under her belt in high school, she never dreamed that she would earn her Bachelor of Arts degree in studio art with a concentration in photography just four years later.
Originally a biology major, Dolphin made the bold change during her second semester freshman year. This past weekend, she presented her senior comprehensive, a capstone piece of original artwork, along with five other students, in Moreau Center for the Arts.
Dolphin's experience studying abroad in Ireland opened her eyes to many new ideas. She felt compelled to draw from her experiences and apply them to her work as an artist.
"I loved Ireland and wondered why it wasn't here in America," Dolphin said. It was in Ireland that she first began thinking about her senior comprehensive.
Initially, Dolphin planned to use various photographs she took in Ireland as her senior comprehensive. However, she wanted to extend herself even further. She searched for the culture and charm that she loved so much in Ireland in her hometown in Minnesota.
"I decided to take documentations in my town and what I saw that was unique," Dolphin said.
Dolphin's senior composition is comprised of a series of photographs of small shops and businesses that have been closed in her town. Her photographs illustrate "how larger businesses and corporations are taking over the smaller shops," she said.
"I first realized this when I went to Ireland. It made me realize how much culture other countries have, and when you are in America, everywhere seems to look the same," she said.
Dolphin's senior comprehensive is presented in a style that resembles microfilm, "[they are] like historic photographs of what's to come," she said.
Dolphin gathered quotes from the Web sites of large businesses and corporations that serve as a contrast to the photographs of the small shops and businesses.
In addition to the endless hours Dolphin spent in the dark room in preparing her composition, she and the other art majors had the daunting task of organizing and installing the show in Moreau.
Installing the show turned out to require much more work than the students initially thought. With strict guidelines and timetables provided by the art professors to follow, the students put countless hours of their time and energy into the project.
"We even had to hang things so everything is consistent," Dolphin said, "following formulas so it would look like museum technique … We all worked really hard. We were in charge of the whole opening and the reception. Even the dishes were hand made by a student."
From creating the posters and postcard advertisements, planning and the reception and even the lighting, this show was truly created by the students in every respect.
Veronica Kessenich, an art history major, took an unusual approach in displaying her senior comprehensice. Unlike studio majors, art history students present their compehensive in the form of a paper.
Kessenich wrote her paper on video art and hand bound it in a black book with the same dimensions as a videotape. She then placed the book inside of an old VCR.
"I hope that whoever looks at it takes the book out, reads it, and interacts with it," Kessenich said. "When you look at a video art piece, there's an image projected on the wall. I wanted a relationship between those looking at my piece and themselves, much like a video artist would."
Kessenich chose to do video art because she wanted to use a medium with which most people aren't familiar. "I wanted to do contemporary art and something you haven't had much experience with," she said, "I've seen and worked on one of the artists I used in my paper, Bill Viola. From there it really interested me, its history and progression."
While both Dolphin and Kessenich have worked on their senior compositions since the beginning of the second semester, the process in fact started much earlier. It all begins with an idea, and from there the students build proposals that are reviewed in the first semester of their senior year. The second semester is spent creating the art piece. Three months later, after countless late nights in the dark room, studio or library researching and hundreds of dollars, their work is complete.
The senior art comprehensives will be presented in he Moreau Center for the Arts from April 13 to April 20. The Center is open from 10 a.m to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Sundays.
All Scene Stories for Monday, April 9, 2001
