SoFA Gallery springs into semester with MFA student work

A collage of kitchen tables, post cards, erotic typefaces and a “spiritually charged” lawn chair dominate the entrance of the School of Fine Arts Gallery.

On Tuesday, the SoFA Gallery will kick off its spring season with the “IU School of Fine Arts Student Shows: MFA Painting, Metals, Graphic Design, Ceramics and Textiles.”

The exhibit, on display through Jan. 23, includes paintings, multimedia, books,
jewelry, textiles and more, all created by Master and Bachelor of Fine Arts students.

“It is designed to showcase student talent within each area and to make people aware of what’s currently going on,” said Megan Abajian, public relations director for the SoFA Gallery. “It also serves as a kind of recruitment. If you see some metal pieces you like, maybe you’ll be encouraged to take some metals classes.”

Although the exhibit opens today, the gallery will have an opening reception from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday .

“It’s what makes Bloomington Friday nights,” Abajian said.

Unlike the past, the fine arts student shows this year have been consolidated together, with more studio areas on display at once but for a longer period of time.

Abajian said the school combined one student show last year and found that the gallery was more active because of the merger. After, they decided to consolidate the programs into two.

The consolidation has lead to concerns about space in the gallery, particularly for the students in the painting program.

But Ajiban said she believes the pros outweighs the cons.

“Even though it’s consolidated, it will still be exciting and more dynamic,” Abajian said.
Ben Cowan, a first year graduate student in the painting program, has a series of 20 paintings that he created over winter break on exhibit.

“They are a celebration of doing nothing,” Cowan said.

Cowan cites a painting that he collaborated on with his wife’s four-year-old cousin as one of his best, but also pointed out one with a “transcendental lawn chair.”

“There are no big ideas, other than just what comes up,” he said.

Erin Goedtel, also a first-year graduate student in the painting program, created an oil painting for the show, a satirical work titled “Swan Song for the Apocalypse.”

“It has seven beauty queens waving from a swan float, parading through a happy scene,” Goedtel said. “But, the more you look, you might find a more sarcastic or humorous scene.”

Goedtel said that she is interested in women and beauty in the public spectrum versus in their private lives, pointing out an interesting parallel that all this work she creates in private is displayed in public.

“I can’t believe how much people get done in grad programs,” Goedtel said. “They’re so prolific. There’s a lot of talent represented here.”