This week on Great Art at Eastern, Jeff Gentry talks with Marguerite Rene Frechette and Kylie Campbell about the upcoming K-Through-ENMU art exhibition.
Their work is now on display at the K-through-ENMU exhibition at the Runnels Gallery.
Rene is a senior graphic design major. She goes on to talk about the ongoing art exhibition, "K-Through-ENMU."
"Well, I personally have been a gallery assistant to Brian Hahn, the gallery manager for going on three years now. And I've always found that K through ENMU is my favorite show to put together. There is such a giant body of work across all media and topics and it is really fun to see how different students approach it. I think that this year we have a little under 200 of our applicants get into the show. We had a big body of work, and we put up some new walls in the gallery so that we had a little more room to pad it out."
Rene went on to talk about her graphic-design project titled: "The Youth Exchange Vision."
"So, the Youth Exchange Vision was something that I did for my mom. I was born into a Rotary family and my mom, is the chair of Rotary Youth Exchange for the district 5520, which covers New Mexico in West Texas. And so, she reached out to me, "she said "'Hey, we would like some new promotional materials.'" So, I went on to say 'OK, I can put together a brochure for you.' And I really tried to target around what's the story of youth exchange really is. "
Rene went on to talk about how she combined the text and visual elements in her work:
"My mom provided me with some already written materials. Like the type that we give as handouts to the families. From there I was in charge of the editing that down to fit the brochure format. I also took it upon myself to do some photography for the actual brochure. Some textual elements tell the story."
The other artist featured in the show is Kylie Campbell. Kylie goes on to talk about how it feels to have her drawing selected for a juried exhibition in a professional art gallery?
"It was very exciting, especially since I was not expecting to win. Like I didn't put a lot of effort into it. And I was really surprised that I got picked. I entered last year, but I didn't get picked, but it was really exciting."
Kylie goes on to talk about her work, "Happy Koi."
"So, I got inspiration from my uncle's wedding that happened in January. There was a beautiful venue and there was this little pond that had Koi Fish in it, and I really like the pond so I took a picture of it. Then when the K through ENMU art show popped up, I was just like I want to draw the pond with Koi Fish in it."
"You should both be proud of your achievement because only a few artworks are selected in each division by an expert jury panel." Jeff adds as he finishes up his interview.
When asked if they were planning to attend the awards reception on March 20, they both said "yes."
K through ENMU
11th Annual Juried Community Youth Art Exhibition
Coordinated by Bryan Hahn
Runnels Gallery, ENMU Golden Student Success Center
The exhibition opens on March 2-20, 2020
Award ceremony and reception, Friday, March 20
All the great arts at Eastern are found at <enmu.edu/fineartsevents> And learn more about this program at KENW.org.