Fine Arts students' work explores gender, grief

The SoFA Gallery played host to the first group of graduating bachelor of fine arts students from the School of Fine Arts Friday night. \nBFA student and one of the five featured artists at the show Melissa Cwidak articulated the IU's BFA program's meaning: "The program is amazing. To have the opportunity to show work at an institution of this caliber, and with as much space as we have, it's a blessing. The work is hard, tedious and labor intensive, but completely worth it."\nThe exhibit displayed students' thesis projects ranging in a variety of styles and art mediums. Cwidak, who describes her field as metalsmithing and jewelry design, decided to explore working with different materials other than metal. For her thesis project, she presented 14 broaches carved out of wood. All were based on the female form and were carved out of 11 different types of wood. \n"My inspiration came when taking a bath that I had colored green. Only portions of my body were visible, which got me to thinking about the body and what we see when looking at the body," Cwidak said.\nFrom woodcarving to audio works, Friday's exhibit offered a unique display and offered many different perspectives. Jeremy Haid, a graphics arts designer in the BFA program, introduced a humorous look at a familiar subject and issue. His thesis project explored the communication quandaries that men and women face in their relationships. Haid explained men and women's differences in communication through a bright, lively display. Separate pieces hung on the wall informing and commenting on the topic by juxtaposing how men and women each think, act and ultimately communicate with the opposite sex. Haid gathered information by researching the subject, offering not only a visually stimulating display, but also a light-hearted picture of the issue.\nMeanwhile, BFA student Stephanie Anne Stanley introduced her exhibit, "Approaching Solace." Her work was a reaction to her grief about two tragic moments for her and her family over the past year. \n"Suddenly my sense of self was lost. After a few months, I picked up my camera and began to shoot," Stanley explained in her exhibit description. "'Approaching Solace' represents where my sisters and I stand today and also the importance of depending on each other."\nAndrew Mason, receiving his BFA in silk screening, presented his project titled "Windswept Pacific." Mason described the creation of his project as "using a system of selective and compulsive compilations that couples my collection of random thoughts with similarly collected and equally invaluable words and images gathered from the world around me." \nHe also described his project as "the seemingly inescapable naiveté thesis." Furthermore, he expressed his feelings on basic human \nemotions ranging from sexual frustration to general self-loathing. Mason voiced to his audience: "I hope you can relate."\nBrad Wicklund also had his thesis displayed at Friday night's show. However, he offered a slightly different element for the public and asked his audience to listen. \nWicklund's project, "Dreamache," is a recorded audio collection of people's dreams as they recall them. For the purposes of Friday's show, he recorded and edited the audio and presented the recordings in the gallery by using two large speakers. Wicklund explained that he was inspired by his lack of sleep and being unable to remember his dreams, and his desire to find some sort of connection between dreams and their connection to people.\n"I believe viewers will be both drawn to and repulsed by the sound coming from my piece," he said. "They will be drawn in to hear the dreams and follow them, but with the two channels of dreams going at once, they may become disoriented and feel the need to stop listening."\nMost of the pieces displayed in the exhibit were for sale. A list of prices for each piece was available for the public. Its availability for the public, however, did not take away from the personal aspects of each project. \n"I think that people should want to come to see what young, fresh artists are doing," Cwidak said. "Not only for their own sakes of seeing what's out there, but also to support the artists"