SKC shows off faculty art in special display
Taylor Davison
Buck Morigeau’s tipi door is displayed with a blacklight to emphasize the use of color and the chosen materials.
Taylor Davison
Taylor Davison
Buck Morigeau’s tipi door is displayed with a blacklight to emphasize the use of color and the chosen materials.
Taylor Davison
Taylor Davison
Taylor Davison
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PABLO — Salish Kootenai College is holding a special art exhibit for the next few weeks showing off artwork made by faculty and staff throughout the institution.
With over 20 participants, the SKC Faculty Art Show saw submissions from not only the fine arts and digital design departments, but also from psychology, forestry, elementary education, Native American studies, and more.
“Post-covid, we haven’t been having very many art shows,” Frank Finley of the Fine Arts Department explained. “I know many people come in and take art classes in the building and everybody has some sort of creative thing they’re doing. So, we just thought we’d showcase the things from all the different people we have … showcase all the work and variety.”
As the first faculty show in around four years, Finley said the response was enthusiastic.
He explained that part of the team that organized the show thought that instead of a stately sort of show, with everything displayed in a line, they wanted this event to display a variety of colors on the wall with a flow to the artwork.
“We took great care to hang it in a way that it’s a collective show … kind of highlights collaboration … not really differentiating between mediums or types of thinking or (between) traditional or contemporary,” said Taylor Clough of the Fine Arts Department. “We wanted to put it all together and fill the wall.”
With a variety of everything from contemporary photographs to traditional baskets, paintings, drawings and even a dress that was entirely hand stitched, the Fine Arts Department said it has nearly anything people can think of.
One contributor, Buck Morigeau, or “Hitswithastick” as he’s known online, contributed two blacklight reactive pieces that are a combination of modern and traditional ideas and materials. An adjunct professor who teaches “Reservation Art,” what he describes as a hands-on history class in which students get to make the things they’re learning about, explained that he likes the idea of “… taking primitive knowledge and adding modern stuff.”
In the process of creating a short documentary on living and making tools with materials from pre-European contact, his work can be viewed online at: https://nativeartsandtradi.wixsite.com/nativeartsandtrad.
“I’m really glad to see that (SKC is) really moving forward with the Art Department and the Native American Studies Department and just wanted to speak to how proud I am of what they’re doing,” Morigeau said. “Even a faculty art show, I think, shows SKC might want to show off their artists they have teaching. There’s so much talent in the people.”
Held in the Buffalo Gallery of the Three Woodcocks Building, the show is open to the public during open building hours through Nov. 4, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. There will also be an open reception from 3:30 – 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 13, with all the contributors invited so the public can get to know them and see their artwork.
“We wanted it to really be alive, something to interact with, and it seems like it worked,” Clough commented. “Something Frank has been saying, which is good too, is we want the students to know who is teaching them … (to see) the things that we create so they feel inspired as well.”
“If you don’t spend a good amount of time looking, you’re going to miss a lot of the things going on. There are real gems in there,” Finley said. “It’s been well received by the faculty and people. We put it up as an announcement at one of the faculty meetings and we had people that were ready to put things in that same day … I’m sure this’ll be something that’s repeated. It really is amazing.”
