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Elena J Schaust | Senior Show

Art work by Elena

Screenshot | Elena J Schaust

A series of acrylic paintings on panel, Screen Shot explores the tenuous nature of texting as a means to communicate impactful information.


Slideshow of Artwork

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Artist Statement

The use of modern text messaging to transmit impactful dialogue is worthy of consideration. A fascination with the implications texting lends to modern communication is at the core of my work with this series. I have built large wooden panels that are to-scale iPhones. Each panel is painted in acrylic, rendered abstractly, and informed by a text chain’s subject matter. Unexpected interviews while compiling text conversations furthered my suspicion that many people experience texting negatively, rather than positively. Each bubble of intimate conversation is hand lettered, a painstaking contradiction to real time texting.

Contemplating the implications of each conversation is a vital part of the process in this series. My own personal relationship to texting as a lifeline was highlighted in 2018 after months of hospitalizations for cancer treatments. It became evident very quickly that the sometimes-tenuous manner of texting could result in wildly varied outcomes. Emotional responses to language in art have historically captured my interest, lending perfectly to the tricky foundation texting can create in relationships. These paintings begin to grasp at the next evolution in human connection through written language.

Bio

Elena Schaust lives and teaches in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She has completed her BA at Augsburg University as a studio art major, with a psychology minor. Elena has a long background in visual arts, stemming back to the late 1990’s as a professional photographer. Currently, she focuses her creative endeavors in painting. Elena has been intrigued by the complex way people use technology to communicate since the arrival of modern cell phones. This interest drives her to explore language as a means to convey impactful moments. Elena’s current series of paintings inspired by text message conversations were collected through interviews with friends and family.


Virtual Mock-up

Due to COVID-19 the show in the physical gallery space has been delayed. Here is a virtual representation of what it will look like in the Gallery720 space.


Victor Sanchez | Senior Show

 

St. Jerome in the Wilderness | Victor Sanchez

St. Jerome in the Wilderness is an exploration of a dream, a hero, a saint, a crisis, and reconciliation. Through pen and ink, pencil, acrylic, and digital graphic design, Sanchez investigates historical narratives to better understand human forgiveness.


Slideshow of Artwork

Give your feedback about the show, support an emerging artist.


Artist Statement

St. Jerome in the Wilderness is an exploration of a dream, a hero, a saint, a crisis, and reconciliation. My preferred working style is representational, my medium is pen and ink, pencil, acrylic, and digital graphic design. To invite you in the gaze and employ the narrative I’m anthropomorphizing the story like a children’s book, in an attempt to emotional connect with and slowly digest the hero and heron narrative.  Each character symbol is an interconnected explorer, they all have in common the responsibility to culturally ascribe, what and who is the hero and heron. The theory of this exhibit is not about the moment a crisis intersects with the hero and heron, it includes a lost personal object, material possession, spiritual relationships, and a reflection on redemption. Because the story of St. Jerome is a human way to connect a personal narrative with God and the dream, I used him to find redemption and reconciliation for the hero and herons of everyday. I continue to investigate historical narratives surrounding the stories of saints, and heroes from the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries to our current time, in hopes of broadening my understanding of human forgiveness. I’m on the lookout for refreshing views of common lives doing extraordinary things in ordinary ways for the world and their neighbors.

Bio

Victor Sanchez is a visual artist living and working in Minneapolis. He is currently at Augsburg University pursuing a BA in studio arts with a minor in art history. He has also attended The School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a major in industrial design, the American Academy of Art for Illustration, and Bethel University in studio art.

Victor grew up in Chicago and Panama. He danced character, jazz, tap, and classical ballet at Ruth Page School of Dance and performed in the Nutcracker Suite, Giselle, Where the Wild Things Are, and Alice and Wonderland, and at Minneapolis’s Guthrie Theater, Southern Theater, Pillsbury House Theater, First Avenue, and Illusion Theater. He has worked as an art director and illustrator for the Saint Paul Pioneer Press, the Utne Reader, Minnesota Monthly, and Midwest Home and Garden magazines, and as a museum exhibit graphic designer, multimedia interactive designer, and model builder with Deaton Museum Services and the Science Museum of Minnesota. Victor’s healthy community mural can be seen at the offices of the Fairview Uptown Clinic in the Calhoun office building.


Virtual Mock-up

Due to COVID-19 the show in the physical gallery space has been delayed. Here is a virtual representation of what it will look like in the Gallery720 space.