Lear Award for Drawing and Painting: Taj Cannon, Muse in Mirror, oil and acrylic on canvas. Faculty describe him as an intuitive painter and praise his sense of color and composition. They say he was born to paint.
ABINGTON, Pa. — Art is fundamentally a form of intellectual and imaginative inquiry so the Bertha Lear art exhibition always kicks off undergraduate research week at Penn State Abington. Meet the 2016 Lear award winners and explore their art practice through faculty commentary.
Lear Honorable Mention Trish Grow, Icarus (amnesty). The Icarus project, as does much of her work, uses her strengths in both visual and word images. In amnesty, she marries these dualities through fragmentation, both of the body and the wings, with mounting pins. Trish is an English major, waiting for the art minor to appear... .
Penn State Abington student Andy Vo earned the 2016 Bertha Lear Award for New Media. He crafted 'The Dove' for an exercise in integrating a modeled environment with a simple rigged character. "The challenges of modeling, lighting, camera motion, video overdub, and other technical flourishes aren't considered attainable in a first animation project but not for Andy," H. John Thompson, art faculty, said. "He leapfrogged this simple project into a legitimate and fully-formed narrative."
Lear Award for Photography Gloria Huang, Untitled. Gloria used the concept of the quick random shot along with the use of light to create this image and moves the concept of a photograph in new directions — not about recording the information but creating with it.
Lear Award for Sculpture and Ceramics Angelique Kopacz, Love Always; concrete, paper and wax. Angelique's exploration of the concept of bridge reflects the deeply personal and metaphoric responses in her work. She created an installation of separated geodes where stacks of private notes become precious crystals, vulnerable and exposed.
Maria Vasilovski, Printmaking Maria has developed work that highlights her magnificent abilities working with pattern and color. She is a junior focusing on two-dimensional art, namely printmaking and painting. This year she has worked tirelessly producing a series of linoleum prints that have opened up a myriad of possibilities for producing images. These works focus on formal concerns that have provided a seemingly limitless resource for her to examine endless combinations and sequences resulting in a stunning series of related works.
Jacqueline Lanning
Untitled, drypoint etching with gouache. Faculty honored Jackie Lanning for her body of work, which includes interest in art and anthropology. She utilizes printmaking, video (new media), sculpture, and installation. Jackie's explorations are evolving and are increasingly more personal and unique.
North Pole, etching on copper plate with digital images. Jackie Lanning developed this piece for her undergraduate research project, which married her art major and anthropology minor. She studied in Norway, working with international experts documenting the early exploration of the world's northernmost archipelago, Franz Josef Land.
Altered Memories, etching with hand coloring. Jackie Lanning's pieces reference family history, polar exploration, place, and how one responds to and arranges memory.
Hailey Salamone
Puff, raku-fired ceramic. As the recipient of the Purchase Award, one of Hailey Salamone's pieces will be permanently added to the Dean's Abington College Art Collection. Faculty praise her concept, execution, and depth. Hailey expresses her own notions of self, from a place of strength and deep sensitivity.
Untitled, installation with video/new media. Hailey Salamone's work consistently challenges preconceived ideas and inspires viewers to see themselves in a way that often feels uncomfortable or disorienting.
Untitled, silk screen on ceramic. Art major Hailey Salamone, who works full time as a silk screener, combines new processes with known to create work that inspires her classmates and professors.
The 10th annual Bertha Lear Art Exhibition is open to art majors and nonmajors. Robert Lear, a 1967 Penn State alumnus, and his wife, Marilyn, founded the exhibition program endowment in memory of his mother, an avid supporter of artists. The public is welcome to explore the exhibition through the month of April.
