The Art Museum at The University of Memphis has recently unveiled a new exhibition entitled, "Parts Seen Within the Background of the Whole." The exhibit, which opened on March 5, has been several months in the making.
Roughly 12 students, a mix of both art and architecture majors, emailed one another beginning in December in order to discover what direction their exhibit would take. The main focus would be the idea of light, and to bring different areas of art and architecture together to make the dimly lit exhibit shine.
"This exhibit blurs the line between architecture and art," said Virginia Overton, a third year Studio Arts graduate student.
Although the students had several different ideas, they were in good hands with Coleman Coker, the principal of the Memphis-based architectural practice, the buildingstudio.
Coker, a graduate of The Memphis College of Art, established the buildingstudio in 1999, and the organization is now recognized on a national level for their achievement in design.
Coker said, in last year's spring edition of Number: An Independent Journal for the Arts, that the buildingstudio finds building to be an ongoing process, a dialogue between space, inhabitants, materials, location and ideas.
The buildingstudio had a similar exhibit on display at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville last fall. The students and faculty involved with the exhibit at The U of M are thankful to the building studio for bringing their expertise to campus.
Although the two galleries inside the Art Museum are showcasing a cohesive exhibit, the buildingstudio's work is displayed in Gallery A while the students' exhibit is in Gallery B.
"The buildingstudio saw the space as a challenge, and the result is how they responded to the challenge," said Leslie Luebbers, the director of the Art Museum.
Considering that the only light provided in the exhibit is generated from the objects themselves, such as reflections in water, the students main challenge was dealing with the idea of light.
"We had the whole gallery to ourselves," said Overton. "This was more beneficial to the creative process and to the collaboration involved."
The exhibit will continue until April 16th and is open to all students. After the showcase ends, Luebbers hopes to publish a catalogue of the exhibit. The buildingstudio kept a diary of the exhibition's progress, which will also be printed in the catalogue.
The opening reception was a success and the artists involved have been receiving positive feedback.
"A lot of students and people from the community have been coming to view the exhibit, and that's the way we want it to be," Luebbers said.
