The Great Room in the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College transformed into a gallery space on Wednesday, April 8, bringing together undergraduate, graduate and faculty work in a collaborative art showcase.
The event, hosted by Chancellor’s Honors College Artist-in-Residence Bruce Levingston and professor of art Phillip Jackson, grew out of their co-taught class, “Influences and Interactions in Art and Music,” and highlighted a wide range of artistic voices. Seven students and two faculty members were featured from the larger class of 10 students.
“I think the pieces are beautiful,” Divine Ighalo, a senior public health major, said. “I walked into the Great Room, and I was like, ‘Wow, I think the artists really showed their creativity.’”
Autumn Wittebort, a second-year MFA art student with an emphasis in painting, presented a piece rooted in mythology. Drawing inspiration from the Greek myth of the goat-legged god Pan and the nymph Syrinx, Wittebort reimagined a classical scene by removing its figures entirely.
“For my piece, I was looking at the Pan and Syrinx myth,” Wittebort said. “The scene itself is a depiction from a painting in antiquity, but I removed all the figures. I painted it pink because Syrinx does end up transforming into nature, so I wanted to make it a safe space for a female autonomy moment to happen that feels peaceful and tranquil.”
Faculty contributions added further depth to the exhibition. Jackson displayed two works from his “Prelude Series.”
“A lot of musicians will come up with their own preludes, which means an introductory or a brief essence of what a larger piece would contain,” Jackson said. “What I’m known for, professionally, is making really tightly painted realistic paintings of real life which take upwards of 300–400 hours to complete. But these are brief, maybe eight hours per painting. The palettes are much more reserved, and the subject matter is edited down.”
Instructional assistant professor of art, drawing and painting Brooke Alexander also displayed two pieces, including one set in a local pine forest at Splinter Creek. This piece featured a plaster bust placed within the natural landscape.
“This piece is out at Splinter Creek, which is a local Oxford development,” Alexander said. “It’s basically a pine tree forest, which is more and more unusual as developments go up around Oxford. I have a friend who has some land out there, so I lugged this plaster bust out there to put in the landscape so there was this question of is it being decomposed into the landscape or being uncovered. ”
Marika Dunne, a second-year MFA art student with an emphasis in oil painting, explored themes of memory and loss in her work. Inspired by a visit to her late grandmother’s village in Greece, Dunne reflected on encountering a bronze bust of a relative she never met.
“I was so lucky getting to visit my grandmother’s home village,” Dunne said. “One thing I kept coming back to was noticing this very large bronze bust on this marble pedestal that was right in front of the Orthodox church. It got me thinking (about) what it means to mourn someone when you didn’t even know them and what it means to know someone through photographs or to know someone through their legacy.”
For Gwendolyn Oliver, a sophomore art major, the show was an opportunity to push her creative boundaries. She constructed a tiered birdbath — her first attempt at a multi-level piece.
“The main goal was just to challenge myself,” Oliver said. “I also wanted to make something that felt very organic, so I worked on making something that had a lot of curves.”
Oliver also contributed musically to the evening, performing the arrangement “IX Vocalise” on the French horn as a tribute to professor of political science Robert Brown, who is retiring after 35 years of teaching, including the courses Honors 101 and 102. Oliver’s performance marked a turning point in the event, as the showcase evolved into a heartfelt celebration of Brown’s legacy. Students shared memories and expressed gratitude for his decades of dedication.
“Thank you all,” Brown said. “Shame on you for ambushing me like this. But I’m just grateful I’ve had you in my classes. Know that I care about all of you. You’ve made my last year really special.”
