The Owls have shown their superior standing in recent months by demonstrating their football prowess and political acumen; most recently, the university galleries have added to the list, displaying their artistic savvy with the introduction of southXeast: contemporary southeastern art.
SouthXeast is an innovative exhibit that features the creations of 14 artists representing seven states exclusively from the southeast. The exhibit incorporates a diverse range of art including photography, sculpture, painting and even video.
“There are no contemporary art surveys of this sort in the state of Florida,” says Rod Faulds, director of University Galleries. “Some university galleries and museums in Florida do Florida exhibitions, but this is the only one to my knowledge that features artists from seven southeastern states.”
SouthXeast is something the staff at the University Galleries has worked passionately to bring to fruition with the support of the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters. Having presented the original exhibition in 2005, the team worked toward the project this year with the same goal: featuring artists specifically from states in the southeast.
The exhibition is certainly unique in its aim. If fact, the exhibit itself is so large that it is presented in both of the Boca campus art galleries – the Ritter Art Gallery above the Breezeway and the Schmidt Center Gallery inside the Performing Arts Building.
Open since Jan. 26 in the Ritter Gallery, the second installment of a two-part exhibition opened in the Schmidt Center Gallery this past Friday.
The planning process began about a year ago with a slew of recommendations the staff elicited from other university and commercial gallery directors, museum curators and art critics. With information on over 300 artists, Faulds, with the help of several dedicated undergraduate art students, began by narrowing the field to 50. The group then chose the final 14 artists based on slides of their work.
“The university galleries are a learning laboratory,” explains Faulds. “Students are engaged in all aspects of what we do and make it happen in a way that it could not without them.”
Two of the southXeast artists also created site-specific pieces for the event, unique to FAU.
“I’m definitely excited for the two big site-specific installations,” says senior art history major Misael Soto, who has been instrumental in organizing the exhibits. “I was here when the artists visited in November so I feel like I’ve been involved in the process and seen the creative flow.”
Faulds made it clear that all students are welcome and encouraged to take part in the exhibit.
“For most students, it is a good chance to see a broad range of contemporary art, artists working in different [mediums] and see several examples of each artist’s work,” he explains. “For art students, it is a chance to see new artists they haven’t seen before nationally, or, say, in the galleries in Miami.”
Non-art students shouldn’t be turned off by the “contemporary art” category for fear of its reputation of random and bizarre creations that tends to elicit crowds of confused faces.
“The show is edgy, but by contemporary art standards, it is actually pretty tame,” assures Faulds. “Don’t try too hard to figure it out; just experience it.”
The southXeast: contemporary southeastern art show will be in the Ritter Art Gallery (until March 5) as well as the Schmidt Center Gallery (until April 4). Both galleries are open Tuesday through Friday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
For more information, call (561) 297-2966 or visit www.fau.edu/galleries.
