Recently, two study abroad programs for the Visual Arts have been approved by Emory. Both are in Italy and are simply lovely! The one through Syracuse University is specialized in both Art History and the Visual Arts in central Florence while the program in Cortona through UGA focuses just on the arts. Whether you’re looking for an experience in the city or the countryside these two programs provide a very enriching environment to learn the Visual Arts. I recently caught up with Hannah Batsel who is currently living in Cortona.
While in Cortona what are you studying?
I'm taking Advanced Printmaking, Intro Jewelry/Metals, and Italian Art History. You can take just about any type of art class, though...everything from landscape architecture to book arts.
What is your living situation?
We live in a converted convent on top of a hill. I have 3 roommates, some people have 2, and I share one bathroom with 7 other people (which hasn't been a problem… yet). The town we live above is completely amazing, as is the view from our hill; the people are extremely nice -our program alone adds about 10% to their population, and a good deal to their economy- and everything you could possibly need is within walking distance. Laundry is probably the biggest drawback; it's pretty much hand-washing in the sink. Drying is by clothesline. We have wifi, which can be spotty, but is mostly reliable, and we get free breakfast and dinner. The dinner is spectacular, and we get a 3 to 4 course meal every night. Not to be too dramatic, but this is the most wonderful place I've ever been!
How are you enjoying the program!?
Obviously from my previous gushing I love it! We've been touring around Naples and Rome before getting here. Already I've settled into a routine in town and have an awesome chocolate shop guy that I go to and a 3-euro panini place that I have every day for lunch. There are museums, little produce markets, art supplies stores, and tons of alleyways and staircases to explore. It's awesome!
This past year Emory’s Photography II class has been working with City of Refuge to document the life saving work that this organization has been doing. Providing food, clothing and shelter to job training, placement, housing, healthcare and education their goal is to provide access to information about the best possible opportunities for success to those who are willing to work hard for positive change. The students who participated in this project were deeply moved, as photography became a way to share with the world what a select few are doing to help others in need. I was able to catch up with a few of them to discuss their experience.
Andi Umoren is currently a Junior at Emory University
How did working on one project for an entire semester compare to a more traditional photography class?
Do you feel you have become a better photographer through this experience?
As a photographer I really had the opportunity to find out what my strengths were and what my weaknesses were. I found myself taking my best pictures when I spent time getting to know my subjects and their stories. I guess I would say in the future, discovering the background of my subjects, whether people, settings, or objects will lead to better photos.
Was there a particular interaction or even that you would like to share?
The event that impacted me the most at City of Refugee was meeting a girl my age and her daughter. I will leave her name unmentioned but I envied the way she was able to open up to me after one day. In her situation I would have probably been the most guarded person. But with no hesitation she jumped at the chance to have her picture taken and tell me about her life.
Photo my Matthew Wiegel
Matthew Wiegel is currently a Junior at Emory University
How did working on one project for an entire semester compare to a more traditional photography class?
I really enjoyed working on the one project for most of the semester, it gives you different kind of experience. There's more of a connection between you and your subjects (the people of City of Refuge, or for me specifically the children of Feed my Lambs) and you have a greater sense of pride and accomplishment with regards to your work as a whole. It takes much more discipline to stay on task and develop a project for that length of time and it's interesting to see how your initial plans or ideas change over the course of the project. I ended up with a completely different result than what I envisioned at the beginning of the project.
What was most rewarding about working with City of Refuge?
The most rewarding part of working with Feed my Lambs was the relationships I formed with the children there. To have a kid actually ask me things like "Can I come to your house to play?" was just an incredible feeling and I really loved being there with them. I spent about half of my time there working on the project and the other half just reading with the kids or playing with them. These children are no different than anyone else, they just want to be kids and have fun.
Do you feel you have become a better photographer through this experience?
Yes. Definitely, I had done very little portrait work before this project began and my final result was nearly all studio style portraits. It gave me more confidence to shoot in all scenarios.
In the distant North (Canada to be exact) Emory’s own Sarah Emerson hasbeen working with the Museum of Civilization on Manif d’Art 5 QuebecCity Biennial “Catastrophe”, curated by Sylvie Fortin. In this workEmerson creates a human light box that surrounds the viewer with largerthan life imagery of the degeneration of nature. The glowing work hasmultiple separate panels but is connected through motion and continualelements. In a recent interview, Emerson explained the work was alandscape of an event falling apart, similar to how the world’soverbearing population is causing the degeneration of civilization. Thework is suppose to be experienced from the inside with the images but alsofrom the exterior as the work causes the outside of the building to glowin red. Recently, I was able to catch up with Emerson and talk about herexperience.
How did you become involved with Manif d’Art 5 Quebec City Biennial?
I met with Sylvie Fortin during my exhibition at Whitespace Gallery in the fall of last year. In my paintings there are overarching themes of collapse and disintegration that are directly influenced by the theoretical dialogue surrounding the idea of catastrophe and how it is defined culturally. Ms. Fortin had already chosen the theme for the Biennial and I was happy to learn that she was interested in including my work as part of her vision. The exhibition had over 30 artists, each with a different angle regarding this conversation so it was a great contextual opportunity for my work.
In your earlier paintings, you seem to have a very organic and painterlyfeel to your work but in these recent instillations the work is a lot moregraphic and simplified. How did you make this transition?
A lot of this has to do with location and the fact that I wanted the works for Catastrophe to be temporary and site specific. My intent for the window project was to have a silhouette image so that the experience for the viewer would be more intense and absorbing, using the entire space for the image. When the light is the strongest the viewer actually becomes a dark shadow in the space of the image, this 2 color or graphic simplicity also intensifies the luminosity of the red background and allows the outside light to play more of a role in the way it flickers and changes throughout the day.
As for the mural, the wall was built specifically to take advantage of the mirrored columns in the space. I didn’t want the viewer to be confronted as much by my technical approach to the image as much as I wanted to confront the viewer with the scale and the intensity of the colors. Sometimes the most complex combination can be made with only 3 or 4 colors. The mirrored columns anchor the wall making the image look distorted as though it is melting off the wall infinitely. In this case, because the mirrors are small tiles covering the column the simple color combination keeps the image from getting lost at the edges and allows the mirrors to reflect small rays of light.
In the end, both projects will be destroyed when the show closes and I strongly consider this reality as I choose my approach to palette and technique.
What was the reaction to the work in Canada? How did the space you wereworking with compliment the work?
Overall, I think the work was received very well. The residents of Quebec City really look forward to this event and there are so many ways that the public could engage with the exhibition because there were artists placed in locations throughout the city with the main exhibition space at Place Quebec. I was lucky to have work in two locations and the audience was extremely different for both pieces. The Musee de la Civilisation was chosen specifically for the window space but it operates as an anthropological Museum so the audience is less specific and not necessarily expecting an encounter with contemporary art. The mural was in the main exhibition area of Place Quebec so the power and the dialogue is affected by the placement of the work and the audience. The debate between public and private has always been very interesting to me and it is clear that the Director of the Museum, Martin LeBlanc, was very excited to expose his audience to Contemporary art and it’s relationship to the institution he operates.
What initially inspired these intriguing instillations and murals?
They came from the group of paintings I did for “Soft Trap” at Whitespace Gallery last fall. There is a strong focus on the idea of a civilization in decay and the beauty and revenge in the natural environment, the projects for Manif feel like a natural evolution of the ideas I’ve been playing with for a long time. The opportunity to exploit the scale and location was an added bonus as a result of Ms. Fortin’s support. She asked me to submit a dream proposal-to consider something I would do if I had no financial or technical obstacles and then we actually made it happen.
I noticed grasshoppers reappearing in the works multiple times, especiallyin Feast, do they have a particular meaning within the work?
It’s a combination of locusts, cicadas, and grasshoppers that keep popping up in my newer paintings. I wanted to enlarge these swarming insects to be the same size as the viewer so they are both confrontational and fantastical. The scale also creates a situation where the viewer can be witness to an event and participant at the same time. The value placed on them as images is interesting because they represent a plague in secular and religious imagery but the noise associated with them can be soothing depending on your experience of southern nights. I also hear them less and less as development and progress overwhelm our natural areas. So in many ways they are nostalgic to me but I prefer to rely on them for the purposes of symbol and sign as they relate to our shared cultural mythology.
How did you create the light box instillations? What mediums did you use?
The window project is an inkjet print on linotec film. It’s similar to the material used for car window tint and it is applied using water, it’s used a lot for advertising purposes. I did the initial drawings for the windows to scale with the idea that the overall image would be a panoramic of connecting verticals. The drawings were scanned and printed by Colorchrome Atlanta.
On your blog you mentioned you will be working on a public project forFlux Projects in Atlanta later this year. What will this entail and willit relate back to the Manif d’Art 5 Quebec City Biennial project?
Well, I am doing a window project at 330 Peters Street as part of Flux Projects on October 1st. I’m still working on the imagery because we just found out that the location was approved yesterday so a lot of the details are still being worked out. I keep thinking Leaves of Grass meets Friday the 13th so we’ll see where that leads me visually. I am always thinking of my audience so, for me, finding the right balance between collapse and beauty is the best part of making pictures.
Mainly, I am really looking forward to working with Flux Projects, their mission to make art more accessible to a wider Atlanta audience is wonderful and I appreciate the opportunity to have a window in such an accessible location to the public.
Most importantly, when will you be teaching again at Emory!?
I’ll be back at Emory this summer teaching Beginning Painting and Drawing and I recently found out that I will be back in the fall for the 300 level Painting and Drawing as well as the 200 level in the spring. I’ve really missed my students this year so I can’t wait to be back.
The 2010 student art exhibit had the natural world move from outside to within Emory’s own gallery space. Whether it was paintings of leaves or entire trees suspended from the ceiling, this year really pulled off an excellent show. Congratulation to all the seniors!
