Kaitlyn Aki Holloway, Untitled Detail

Sweet Briar College will host an opening reception for its 2013 senior art majors’ thesis show at 5 p.m. Friday, April 19, in Pannell Gallery. “The Art of Uncertainty” highlights culminating work by Vianey Chavez, Virginia Graves, Danielle Hall, Madeline Hodges, Kaitlyn Holloway, Sally Toms and Jennifer Will.

The largest senior art exhibition in years, it boasts a wide array of themes and media, from explorations of culture to celebrations of nature, from oil paintings to traditional mixed media to digital work.

“The show’s title is meant to reflect the different ways in which the artists attempt to grapple with the unpredictability and indefiniteness of life, either by embracing uncertainty through their media or by attempting to wrench thematic clarity from its grip,” said Holloway, whose artwork includes prints, as well as dolls made of kiln-fired and polymer clay. She uses natural homemade dyes created from local materials, such as walnuts found behind Sweet Briar House, for the dolls’ hair.

“My work explores femininity and various ideas that have been associated with femininity through the ages and in various cultures,” she said. “I am interested in exploring and elevating art forms that have been strongly associated with women and also considered frivolous.”

But there are many other themes that inspire Holloway’s art.

“Through my prints and dolls, I like to explore historical fashion, Christian iconography, the coming together of my Japanese and American heritages, folklores, feminine strength and death.”

“The Art of Uncertainty” runs until May 18. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday and 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday. Special gallery hours are available by appointment. The show is supported in part by a fund established by Carl and Barbara Calandra, parents of Amy Calandra Davis ’90.

Artist information:

Vianey Chavez is a studio art major with a business minor from Menlo Park, Calif. Her work, which varies in medium from printmaking to digital collage, is a celebration and exploration of her experience as a Mexican-American. Her artwork often features the motif of a decorative skull typical of Day of the Dead celebrations, an image that represents a new start.

Virginia Graves is a studio art major and art history minor from Appomattox. Her work and medium vary widely, though paint appears in almost all of her pieces. She is interested in how the media she uses inspire the outcome of her pieces. She has recently begun to experiment with sculpture.

Danielle Hall is a studio art major from Altavista. She is interested in the way light, water and color interact and explores this interaction in both paintings and photography. The serendipitous movement of paint on canvas inspires most of her paintings, while her photographs are informed by her work with lighting in the theater.

Madeline Hodges is a studio art and art history double-major with an Arts Management Certificate from Fort Belvoir. Her work mainly consists of three-dimensional pieces, including ceramics and sculpture, with themes reflecting her interest in impossible situations and the power and pervasiveness of the natural world.

Kaitlyn Aki Holloway is a studio art major with a minor concentration in creative writing in the B.F.A. program from Oceanside, Calif. She creates prints and dolls that explore themes of feminine strength paired with Christian iconography, historical fashion and a touch of the absurd.

Sally Anne Toms is a B.F.A. major in studio art with a concentration in creative writing and another major in business. She uses linoleum cuts, wood engravings and paper-cutting to explore her dual British and American nationality, her childhood ex-patriotism, and investigations into the way the natural world manifests itself in her childhood memories of England.

Jennifer Will is a philosophy and studio art double-major from Columbia, Md. Her oil paintings are inspired by ideas and concepts she finds through reading classics and philosophy and unusual juxtapositions of natural objects and human figures. Thematically, she is interested in exploring the different ways in which we encounter the unknown.

The exhibit includes various prints created through the years by Sweet Briar students.

The third and final exhibition in a series of College-made art, “Sweet Briar Creates III: Student Print Exchanges from the Studio Art Department,” opens Thursday, March 28, in Benedict Gallery.

The show will feature a variety of “print exchange” portfolios created through the years by students in Professor Laura Pharis’ printmaking classes. A different theme unites each class’ prints, which are collected into a single portfolio at the end of the semester. Several of these print portfolios have also made it into the College’s art collection and are now being shown for the first time.

Sweet Briar galleries director, Karol Lawson, says the prints are a great way to wrap up the “Sweet Briar Creates” theme, and a nice complement to the print exhibition “Material, Method, Medium,” which is on view until April 7 in Pannell Gallery.

Benedict Gallery is open from 9 a.m to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday, and for special programs and events as announced. Closed for all College holidays and breaks. For more information, contact Karol Lawson at (434) 381-6248 or klawson@sbc.edu.

But lately the mother of two grown daughters says her thoughts are drawn to her college days for reasons she never expected.

“As our nation faces terrorist agendas, school shootings and similar acts of violence, and less-than-honest and -accountable government leaders, I have realized that there are times when I actually think back to the opportunity … to live in a safe and honorable community where integrity and common decency just were at Sweet Briar.

Katherine Powell Heller ’78

“My new favorite quote is, ‘Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring and integrity, they think of you [by H. Jackson Brown Jr.].’ When I think of Sweet Briar, I think of exactly those things, and who wouldn’t want to be connected to that?”

Making sure such a haven remains available to young women is among the several reasons Heller makes giving to Sweet Briar a priority. It is also a commitment to her own parents, who, she says, placed her education and ability to be a contributing member to society above all else.

“Cliché or not, I do believe in the saying, ‘To whom much is given, much is expected,’ ” she says. “Sweet Briar — and my parents — gave me the foundation to be able to embrace a world of opportunities. Of course I received an excellent education and made lifelong friends, but the personal growth I achieved in the SBC environment is irreplaceable.”

She cites the ability to rise to leadership positions in a class about one-third the size of her high school class in Halifax, Va., and involvement as chair of the Judicial Committee for developing skills such as public speaking and being a good listener.

“Being willing to really listen with an unbiased ear is an important life skill. This becomes harder the older you get and I don’t mean due to deafness,” she says, laughing, adding it’s especially handy when you’re a mother.

Heller’s numerous honors as a student include the Emilie Watts McVea Scholarship and the all-College Penelope Lane Czarra Award for combined scholastic achievement, leadership and helping to improve student life at Sweet Briar. She earned her bachelor’s in biology and studio art after entering with the intention of going to medical school.

“I quickly decided on biology as an intended major and was very glad to be able to fit some art classes into my schedule for fun,” Heller says.

She added the dual major after family friends introduced her to the field of medical illustration. She studied art for a year at Pratt Institute and later earned her master’s from Johns Hopkins’ Art as Applied to Medicine program. Heller worked at university hospitals in Worchester, Mass., and in Cleveland, doing everything from illustrating textbooks and journal articles to graphic art for posters to sketching live procedures in the operating room.

After the family settled in Atlanta, where they are today, she freelanced for a time but became a full-time mom when her second daughter was born. The example Heller sets for her girls is part of why she and her husband support not only Sweet Briar, but also each of their alma maters and their daughters’ colleges.

“We fully appreciate the importance of regular annual donations to educational institutions, no matter what the sum. It builds a habit and reflects the loyalty and appreciation that we feel for what we received from being a part of the institution. … My husband works in an academic medical center and intimately knows the value of giving and its direct impact on the quality of education.”

In addition to yearly contributions through stock shares, they have included Sweet Briar in their estate planning. In reunion years, they have stepped up to the Fountain Society level. “We hope that we are instilling in our children the importance of philanthropy and giving back to the communities that have shaped us,” Heller says.

Fond memories of Sweet Briar, especially longstanding traditions such as lantern bearing, hitching post battles and impromptu Sweet Tone serenadings, play a role in Heller’s giving, too. And there were the routines of campus life — invitations to dinner from faculty members, “waiting in the Refec dinner line before the doors opened” and “watching Saturday Night Live, back when it was brilliantly funny, with roomies and friends, including our friend Jack Daniels.”

Neither is dorm life immune to the occasional surprise. One spring semester, Heller returned to her triple room in Randolph, which had its own bathroom, to find a note from her English major roommate.

“There is a dead mouse in the bathtub,” it read. “I have returned to Lynchburg until you (the biology major) get it out. Let me know when I can come back.”

“I wish I had kept that note!” she says.

— Jennifer McManamay

Craig Pleasants, “Taino,” sculpture installation, ca. 2012. Photo courtesy of the artist.

This spring, Virginia-based artist Craig Pleasants will display drawings and a site-specific sculpture installation in Babcock Gallery at Sweet Briar College. “New Work” opens with a reception and gallery talk by the artist at 5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 14. The exhibition is on view until May 5.

The focus of the show will be a large-scale piece constructed of various materials, such as wood, cardboard, used clothing, BFK Rives drawing paper, aluminum foil and the existing, movable walls in the gallery. Pleasants is well known for his functional in- and outdoor installations, but this time, he’s adding a twist: Instead of completing the entire sculpture beforehand, he will be adding to it as the exhibition progresses.

“I have challenged myself to try to do something that can be visited many times over the course of a semester and remain new and fresh,” he said.

“In effect, I will come into the gallery at intervals during the semester and add things or take things away or change things or create large-scale drawings onto the form.”

Sweet Briar galleries director Karol Lawson believes Pleasants’ emphasis on site-specific, unfolding art will fit right in with the College’s dynamic academic (and architectural) landscape.

“Craig’s work will resonate with classes such as Professor Tracy Hamilton’s popular art history course ‘The Land as Art,’ as well as with a new initiative … from the Friends of Art to commission an original sculpture for the Cochran Library renovation and addition.”

Craig Pleasants, untitled drawing, ca. 2012. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Pleasants is the artistic director at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA), an artists’ retreat in Amherst. He has exhibited in numerous venues across the country and in Europe for more than 30 years. His shows have included site-specific installations, life-size sculptures, drawings and multimedia performances. He is the recipient of several grants, including three fellowships from the Virginia Commission for the Arts. Pleasants studied at the University of North Carolina, receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts in sculpture in 1976. He went on to study at L’Institut d’Arts Visuels in Orleans, France, before moving on to Converse College in Spartanburg, S.C., where he completed his M.Ed. in humanities in 1983. To learn more, visit craigpleasants.com.

Babcock Gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and closed when the College is not in session. It is recommended that visitors call ahead to confirm hours. For more information, contact Karol Lawson at klawson@sbc.edu or (434) 381-6248.

Launched in 2011, BLUR is a collaborative, three-week residential camp for high school students interested in the arts. It’s built on the founding principle of blurring the boundaries between art forms to imagine new ways of seeing, thinking and creating. While participants concentrate in one area, spending two-thirds of their day deeply immersed in their disciplines, the rest of the time they work collaboratively on projects in other mediums.

The program’s founders came up with the idea for BLUR as an answer to what Newsweek described as “The Creativity Crisis” in a 2010 article. It suggested that children are less inventive than they used to be and consequently less prepared to be problem solvers in an increasingly complicated world, says BLUR director Dave Griffith, an assistant professor of creative writing at Sweet Briar.

“We agreed that arts education should do more than just encourage self-expression,” Griffith said. “The arts can and should train students to think creatively and work collaboratively to solve problems in any area.”

Adding music to the mix was always part of the plan, Griffith said. “Offering all of the arts helps students to see the ways in which the[y] … are all interrelated. They all have the same purpose: to express that which is otherwise unsayable, they just do it through different media.”

Sweet Briar College voice instructor Marcia Thom will run the new program, which, for now, focuses on vocal training and music theory. However, instrumentalists are also encouraged to participate and may bring their own instruments.

A student works on a charcoal drawing during the 2012 Blue Ridge Summer Institute for Young Artists.

Unlike music, technical theater “just kind of happened organically,” Griffith said. “We had a student last year in the theater program who had a lot of experience in technical theater. She didn’t have a lot of acting experience, and frankly was a little uneasy about even attempting the exercises the actors were being asked to do.”

Help came from Krista Franco, the set designer for Endstation Theatre Company, which is in residence at the College and partners with BLUR. Franco took the student under her wing.

The partnership offers all participants behind-the-scenes experience in staging a professional theater production through Endstation’s Blue Ridge Summer Theatre Festival, which runs through June and July. For that particular student, however, working with Endstation became the focus of her BLUR residency.

“They put her to work backstage, helping to paint and build props and scenery for Endstation’s ‘Macbeth,’ ” Griffith said. “This student had such an awesome time that when the program was over, I asked Krista and Geoff Kershner, Endstation’s creative director, if we might create a technical theater program.”

The answer was “yes.” Starting this summer, technical theater students will work with professionals on scenery painting, prop management, lighting and sound design. They’ll also collaborate with BLUR’s theater program to design the student production that will be performed at the end of the three weeks.

“To my knowledge, this is one of the only programs of its kind in the entire country for high school students,” Griffith said.

BLUR theater students improvise during a session in 2012.

Another small but impactful change for 2013 is the addition of ceramics to the visual arts program. BLUR assistant director Kate Plows, a ceramicist and art instructor, has been dying to add the medium, Griffith said, noting it’s consistent with the mission to allow students to explore the ways in which all of the arts are connected.

BLUR also partners with its next-door neighbor, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. One of the largest artist communities in the country, the VCCA offers participants the opportunity to interact with professional artists of all disciplines during their three-week residency.

As in previous years, the use of technology remains an essential component of BLUR. Students will use iPads to both create and record their work in drawings, writing, audio, video and photography, which they can share through social media. The tablets are included in the full tuition, but participants have the option of bringing their own or borrowing one provided by the program for a refundable deposit.

BLUR’s other big selling point — the College’s expansive campus — continues to be central to the experience, as well. Students are encouraged to explore the 3,250 acres, drawing inspiration from, and working in, Sweet Briar’s natural and built landscape.

Participants receive two hours of college credit for successfully completing the program. Women attendees who later enroll at Sweet Briar will receive a $2,000 tuition credit. Scholarships and day-student rates are available.

To apply or for more information about tuition, housing, teaching faculty and other program details, please visit sbc.edu/blur or email blur@sbc.edu. Applications are due April 1, 2013.

You can follow BLUR on Facebook at BLURatSBC, Twitter at blur_institute and on Tumblr at bluratsbc.

Led by Amherst County High School art teacher Maryellen Barron and sponsored by local arts organizations and individual supporters, the project marks yet another milestone in Amherst’s recent efforts to “add a bit of spice to the downtown arena,” said Suny Monk, who helped sponsor the initiative with her husband, Sweet Briar art professor Joe Monk. Previously, volunteers had painted the town’s parking meters as part of the ArtMeters project.

Standing atop the roving tree stump spotted at previous town gatherings, Barron addressed the more than 100 spectators and thanked the community for its support.

“I didn’t really know what a big project it would be, and that’s why I said yes,” Barron said.

She added that ArtWindows was “just the beginning” in her efforts to “enrich the town” and would be followed by additional student art projects in the coming years.

Sienna Barron poses next to her painting of Indiana Fletcher Williams and daughter, Daisy.

At the count of three, students unveiled their paintings to the sound of cheers and applause from family, friends and neighbors.

For their murals, students picked local historical figures from a list suggested by Bob Wimer and Leah Gibbs, authors of the book “Amherst: From Taverns to a Town.”

Barron’s daughter Sienna, an Amherst County High School sophomore, painted Sweet Briar founder Indiana Fletcher Williams and Daisy. The mural is based on several portraits and brochures she received from President Jo Ellen Parker when visiting Sweet Briar House.

Sienna Barron’s interest in the College’s history was stirred when she participated in Sweet Briar’s 2012 Blue Ridge Summer Institute for Young Artists (BLUR), an interdisciplinary arts camp for high school students — a perfect fit for Barron, who also acts, sings and dances. ArtWindows was her first attempt at painting.

Other local celebrities portrayed in the paintings include the Rev. Robert Rose (1704-1751) by Bryan Taylor, Dr. Reuben Barnes Ware (1873-1964) by Sarah McCafferty, postmaster Arthur Gates Ware (1911-1990) by Ryan Mattox, nationally acclaimed artist Queena Stovall (1887-1980) by Lauren Huffman, Sheriff Henry Myers (1900-1970) by Taylyn Soult, midwife Florence “Sis” Yancey (1870-1978) by Alison Tyler, and barber Eddie Rodwell (1922-2005), along with judge Willard Douglas (born 1932), painted by Zach Mays and Tiffany Foster. The paintings were completed during the summer.

— Janika Carey

The competitive eight-week program brings together students and faculty from all disciplines to create an intense academic experience for participants. Student researchers work one-on-one with a faculty mentor, in addition to meeting weekly for presentations given by faculty and students highlighting their ongoing research. The program begins on May 21, and continues through July 13.

The following students were awarded fellowships:

Spencer Beall ’14
Faculty sponsor: Marie-Thérèse Killiam, professor of French

CJ Campbell ’13
Faculty sponsor: Tony Lilly, assistant professor of English

Lydia Ethridge ’15
Faculty sponsor: Lynn Laufenberg, associate professor of history

Phoebe Jiang ’14
Faculty sponsor: Cammie Smith Barnes, assistant professor of mathematical sciences

A-Joo Kim ’13
Faculty sponsor: Padmini Coopamah, assistant professor of international affairs

Hannah Male ’13
Faculty sponsor: Kate Chavigny, associate professor of history

Caitlin Playle ’13
Faculty sponsor: Lynn Laufenberg, associate professor of history

Ellen Reid ’12
Faculty sponsor: Paige Critcher, assistant professor of studio art

Rachael Stein ’13
Faculty sponsor: Padmini Coopamah, assistant professor of international affairs

Weekly presentations begin  Thursday, May 24 and are open to the entire campus community. Faculty presentations through May and June will be in Guion A03. Student presentations in July will be held in the 1948 Theater. Abstracts of the students’ summer projects are posted on the Honors website.

Hosted each year by Sweet Briar’s gallery staff, the studio art majors’ senior thesis exhibition is the culmination of the students’ four years of work toward their degree. This year’s show promises diversity, with North Carolina native Ellen Reid experimenting with sculpture, while Krista Maldonado, a varsity tennis player from Texas, focuses on mixed media.

Maldonado’s artwork involves inkjet transfers and acrylic painting on wood panels. She uses pop icon portraits, then gives them a special weathering treatment to create an eroded look.

“It’s a gluing technique; I place the image face down to allow the ink
to come off, then I rub off the paper on the backside,” she explains.

After taking the original image apart, little bits of it are pieced back together in a grid-like manner.

“This allows me to see these icons in their ‘supposed’ beautiful state deteriorating in front of my eyes to give the effect of the flaws which are present in every person regardless of their appearance,” she says. “The end result allows the viewer to see this icon differently than before.”

Maldonado has been interested in mixing found images with different painting techniques since high school, but says she’s ready to expand other aspects of her repertoire. After graduation, she plans on moving to California to study animation and graphic design.

Reid’s work has already drawn attention beyond Sweet Briar. Last fall, the Lynchburg News & Advance’s weekly entertainment guide, the Burg, featured her senior thesis performance “Such is Life,” which combined installation sculpture and dance.

This semester, it’s all about sculpture.

“I embrace exposure to a dialogue with the sculptures; through this, the nature of my work becomes illuminated and profoundly self-referential,” Reid says, adding that concepts of growth, reciprocation, fragility and support inform this dialogue and influence her art.

“The concepts rely on the authenticity of the materials. Searching and reacting are factors in the material selection for my work.”

Not surprisingly, Reid’s sculptures reflect her abstract approach to art. Instead of featuring more traditional materials, such as stone or wood, they’re comprised of straight pins, fishhooks and fuzzy pieces of cotton, to name just a few.

Reid deliberately chooses materials that “speak to [her] innately.” Through her experimental creative process, Reid finds out what it is the material wants to be, she explains.

This process isn’t always easy, but it’s essential to her philosophy.

“I value improvisation, experiments and uncertainty as responses to influence,” Reid says. “For me as an artist, the balance between what is conceptually sufficient and what is aesthetically complex is the most valuable and affective consideration in the formation of a piece.”

“Two Ways” can be viewed April 13-May 1 during regular gallery hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday and 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday. Between May 2 and May 10, the exhibit is open by appointment only. On graduation weekend, hours are 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 2 to 4 p.m. Friday, May 11, and 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 12.

The exhibit is supported in part by a fund established by Carl and Barbara Calandra, parents of Amy Calandra Davis ’90.

For more information, email klawson@sbc.edu or call (434) 381-6248.

Contact: Janika Carey

Sweet Briar College is taking applications for The Blue Ridge Summer Institute for Young Artists, known as BLUR, which will be held June 17 through July 8 on its Amherst County, Va., campus.

Launched for the first time in June 2011, BLUR is a new kind of residential arts camp for high school students interested in theater, creative writing and visual art. As the shorthand name suggests, one of its foundational concepts is to blur the boundaries between art forms to imagine new ways of seeing, thinking and creating.

While participants concentrate in one area, spending two-thirds of their day deeply immersed in their disciplines, the rest of the time they work collaboratively on projects in other mediums.

A second essential component is technology, and several assignments require an Apple iPad. Students use the tablet computers to both create and record their work in drawings, writing, video and photography, which they can share through social media. The devices are included in the full tuition, but participants have the option of bringing their own or borrowing one provided by the program for a refundable deposit.

“Everything we do at BLUR is geared toward this current generation of young artists who are growing up with smartphones, iPads and social media,” says BLUR founding director Dave Griffith, an assistant professor of creative writing at Sweet Briar. “We want to help them figure out how technology is changing the way art is made and consumed.”

Sweet Briar’s 3,250-acre campus also distinguishes the program. Students are encouraged to explore the land on their own and in organized outings. The natural and built landscape of forests, fields, academic village and reminders of the College’s agrarian past inspire the students’ work while providing the ideal artist’s studio, indoors and out.

Additionally, the campus is home to two BLUR co-sponsors, Endstation Theatre Company, an energetic, young professional theater troupe-in-residence, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, which is one of the largest artist communities in the country. Practicing artists from both organizations interact with and mentor BLUR students during their three-week residency.

In particular the partnership with Endstation offers all participants — whether concentrating in theater, writing or visual art — behind-the-scenes experience in staging a professional theater production through the Blue Ridge Summer Theatre Festival, which runs concurrently with BLUR.

In its inaugural year 26 students from California to New Jersey attended BLUR, some finding a kinship they had never experienced before.

Poet and creative writing instructor Brandon Som teaches a daily workshop during the inaugural BLUR session in 2011.

“Some of us haven’t been in an environment where the people are like us,” 16-year-old Hannah Rae Bracey, an aspiring writer from Chesterfield, told a reporter from the Lynchburg News & Advance. “We’re at home, writing, acting and creating art, while other people are sitting in a corner going, ‘Why are you doing that?’ ”

At BLUR, “we all fit together,” she said. “It’s phenomenal what everyone can do.”

The need and the desire to nurture that creative spirit in young people gave rise to BLUR, Griffith says. The idea was bolstered by “The Creativity Crisis,” a 2010 Newsweek article suggesting that children are less inventive than they used to be and consequently less prepared to be problem solvers in an increasingly complicated world.

Talking with colleagues at the time, “we agreed that arts education should do more than just encourage self-expression,” Griffith said. “The arts can and should train students to think creatively and work collaboratively to solve problems in any area.”

BLUR participants receive two hours of college credit for successfully completing the program. Women attendees who later enroll at Sweet Briar will receive a $2,000 tuition credit. Scholarships and day-student rates are available.

To apply or for more information about tuition, housing, teaching faculty and other program details, please visit sbc.edu/blur or send an e-mail to blur@sbc.edu. Applications are due March 1, 2012.

You can follow BLUR on Facebook at BLURatSBC, Twitter at blur_institute and on Tumblr at bluratsbc.

Click here to read more about Reid and her performance in Wednesday’s edition of The Burg, the Lynchburg News & Advance’s weekly entertainment guide.

The event is free and open to the public, although space is limited. For more information, call (434) 381-6150 or email mmagruder@sbc.edu.