U of L’s Hite Art Institute contains one of the most exquisite displays on campus, comprised of senior art portfolios. These displays finely articulate a chosen theme each artist has developed throughout their time at U of L. It is their final chance to exhibit the techniques and ideas they have cultivated throughout the semester.
Each portfolio was totally unique in both technique and theme. The artist’s thesis, explaining their inspiration and the theme connecting each piece, hung next to the artwork.
One display in particular stood out: six feet of hanging paper, drenched in graphite powder, silverpoint ground and conté on mylar. This artist was especially inspired by the natural elements often unnoticed by the human eye. Each piece in her composition of black and white, teardrop-looking mixtures combined perfectly to display the many levels of the natural world.
Other pieces in the gallery included dogs made out of stoneware; one with flipper-like paws swimming in a tank of water, the other pawing at the foot of the tank. A portfolio on display at the entrance to the gallery consisted of a man’s face, morphed so that a particular facial characteristic was abstracted into a prominent disfiguration. Another portfolio encompassed pieces of tools “abandoned to the dirt,” but enlarged and put together in illogical but beautiful arrays of metal, through bright oil paints.
The gallery was completely filled with color and complex designs of graduating artists from the University of Louisville — an excellent display of what these artists have learned through U of L’s art program.
