Encephalopathy. Alexis Bumgardner, artist
Nineteen graduating studio art majors at Western Carolina University will bring their capstone work to the WCU Fine Art Museum at Bardo Arts Center for the annual BFA Portfolio Exhibition, on view Tuesday, November 10, through Friday, December 4. The exhibiting artists will discuss their portfolio work on Thursday, November 12, from 4–5 p.m. in BAC 130, followed by a reception from 5–7 p.m.
The exhibition marks the culmination of the students’ work in WCU’s Bachelor of Fine Arts program. During their final year, studio art majors take a portfolio course devoted not only to developing their work but also to preparing for life as professional artists. Students practice writing artist statements, speaking about their work, building an online presence and exploring career opportunities before exhibiting a work or small series at the museum.
“My painting of local transgender activist Rose Daphne explores femininity, sensuality, self-love, freedom and power,” says studio art major Lily Tran. “I am particularly interested in using beauty as a form of resistance against the isolation, conformity and division that can disconnect people from themselves and their communities.”
Tran’s ideas grew from an ongoing series of feminine figures and from her own experiences as an Asian American woman raised in Haywood County. The direction of the new work crystallized after she encountered Daphne’s activism around personal safety and violence against LGBTQ+ communities. In developing the composition, Tran worked with Daphne and incorporated symbolic elements, including three candles and an open purse containing a firearm.
Rose Daphne. Lily Tran, artist
“I wanted the painting to hold both fabulousness and vulnerability,” Tran says. “The gun is not meant to define the figure. Instead, it acknowledges the reality that protecting your peace, your joy, your identity and your community can sometimes require vigilance.”
Sylvia Czartoszewski, a graduating studio art major, will exhibit two works that challenge different aspects of her practice. One pushes her technical skills in texture, lighting and painterly techniques on a large scale, while the other tests composition, culture and illustration on an even larger canvas.
“Developing my portfolio and preparing for this display have shown me the time and effort it takes to get what I want, and the importance of the people around me [in reaching] that,” she says.
Although Czartoszewski entered the program primarily as a digital artist, acrylic painting has become an important part of her practice.
“I find great enjoyment in the meticulous nature of detailed mark making and watching my vision come to life on a screen bigger than my phone,” she says.
Jillian Nelson turns toward the natural world for her work in the exhibition, including Botany Ensemble, a large-scale water-mixable oil painting on a hand-built canvas. The inspiration for this piece began during a walk around campus, where Nelson took close-up reference photographs of natural objects. Enlarging those details allowed familiar forms to become strange and sometimes nearly unrecognizable.
“I was drawn to how much texture, color, a lot of things in nature had, especially when taking a really up-close image of it,” she says. “This inspired me to paint these tiny objects so big they sometimes become unrecognizable and unreal…[but] I remind the viewer that this extraordinary world is not somewhere distant or imaginary. It is the world we are living in right now.”
Nelson has also used her years at WCU to reflect on her own experiences and translate them through imagery, color, titles and subject matter. Along the way, she has developed greater confidence in her work, learned to accept constructive criticism and gained experience in the regional arts community through an internship with The Bascom.
“Past me would have been so excited about where I am today in my artistic practice,” she says. “I’ve been drawing and painting since I was little and I have come such a long way.”
The WCU Fine Art Museum is located at 199 Centennial Drive, Cullowhee. Learn more at arts.wcu.edu/bfa-26.
