‘Dreams’ artist winners announced
David Jerome
Correspondent
Idyllwild Arts Academy presented its annual themed exhibition Friday, Nov. 12. The third of the year’s eight planned art exhibitions, it is always the most popular with students. The students as a group decide upon a theme and collaborate in writing a statement. Only then can the individual artists begin work. All students taking visual art classes are invited to submit, and so members of all disciplines are represented in the works selected for the exhibit.
PHOTO COURTESY OF IAA
The theme statement speaks of the “isolation, pain and disconnect” of the pandemic and of their dreams, at once seemingly further from reach and inescapable. The works reflect this duality of dreams, at the same time profound and essential and evanescent and untouchable.
The works included painting, drawing, sculpture, electronic media, printmaking and photography. It is an old saw that some paintings “seem to reach out” of the frame to touch us, but here some of the works, incorporating elements of sculpture, really did that.
The show is juried, and this year, due to COVID restrictions, the jurist was a “virtual” judge, evaluating the works and artists’ statements on-line. This year’s jurist, Becky Alley, is a lecturer at the University of Kentucky, Lexington. An experienced artist, teacher and curator, she judged the works on their skill, conception and choice of materials.
The gallery was packed with students, faculty and parents as awards were announced for seven outstanding works.
Junior Yoohyun Marie Jeon’s “Day Dream” was one of the honorable mentions. The giant fighting fish seem to hang in the air, unnerving in the detail of their diaphanous fins, as a smaller human figure haunts the background.
PHOTO COURTESY OF IAA
Fatima Guzman, a senior whose works have appeared in theme exhibits all four years, received an Honorable Mention for her linoeum print “Hey.” Like many of the artists, she depicted a figure surrounded by watchful eyes.
The third honorable mention went to senior Ela Bosworth for her series of gelatin silver print photographs evoking childhood fears.
Third place was awarded to Adrian Wang for “Pino,” a whimsical and surreal essay in vertigo-inducing exaggerated perspective.
Second place went to sophomore Jiho Kim’s “Reflection,” praised by the jurist for its “gorgeous” rendering of a plastic bag. You have to see it in person to understand this. It hovers between painterly and photo-realistic.
First place went to sophomore Lucy Park for her “Conception” that mixes elements of traditional Korean art and folklore with a modern technique and sense of self. The work invokes the Korean idea of conception dreams that foretell a birth to a mother or other family member.
