Verdancies

Exhibition Dates: December 13, 2019 - June 14, 2020

Green is overlooked. Green is noticed.

Instead of color competing for subjectivity, the artists bring it front and center, creating an enveloping environment in which the viewer is compelled to recognize and observe green as an active agent that finally accomplishes the limelight. Verdancies is organized and curated by Arianna Garcia, a Bachelor of Fine Arts student at Illinois State University. Garcia is a senior who studies Painting and Art History and works as a Gallery Assistant at University Galleries in Uptown Normal.

An exhibition reception was held January 14th at the Student Art Gallery within the Central Illinois Regional Airport.

Featured Artists

Hannah Songer is a senior Bachelor of Fine Arts student studying Painting whose work in this show emphasizes the greenness of a landscape and blurs the lines between body and vegetation.

Emily Minton is a senior Bachelor of Fine Arts student studying Painting and Art Education. Minton’s work takes a humorous vantage point in the discussion of green in pop culture and contemporary society.

Neva Taylor is a junior studying Studio Arts whose work is critiquing the deceitful side of green pigments that have been and are still used throughout human history.

Guste Savukynaite is a junior Bachelor of Fine Arts student studying Painting and Art Education. Her work in Verdancies highlights the relationship, or lack thereof, of human intervention in a neglected landscape.

"As a collective, we make green mean everything, which in turn causes it to mean nothing. We place expectations on green and design parameters for it, and we expect it to perform for us willingly, seemingly “untampered” with. Nevertheless, we generally divert our attention elsewhere, dusting it into the corner; casting it backstage to our theatrics. We do not take the time to solely appreciate the greenness of a thing; usually the noun precedes the adjective. We recognize and manipulate green, but we do not simply observe it and we especially do not acknowledge our own collective manipulation of it. We simultaneously give and take away its agency, rendering it as a gimmick or an accessory rather than a verdancy."

This art gallery is a mission-central component of the Wonsook Kim School of Art at Illinois State University. For more information, please contact the Wonsook Kim School of Art at Illinois State University: (309) 438-5622