Grant McConnell and Clint Hunker once again had some difficult choices ahead of them to chose pieces for the St. Peter’s College Student Exhibit now up in the Humboldt and District Gallery.
Sixteen students total from McConnell’s drawing and Hunker’s painting classes brought forth pieces for the exhibit which is showing 31 individual pieces of work as well as two collaborative pieces.
Each student gave McConnell and Hunker three to four pieces to choose from when making the exhibit. With the exhibit complete, McConnell says that there are about one to three works from each St. Peter’s art student.
Not only does that mean a lot of work for both McConnell and Hunker but also for the students who have to choose from a wide portfolio of work.
While McConnell says that students have to be comfortable with the pieces they submit, this is also a chance to go outside their comfort zone to have more adventurous pieces on display.
Getting feedback, this time from members of the community, is an important part of the process, says McConnell
“That’s how art functions. It’s not meant to really stay at home or stay in the studio. It’s meant to function in public where people get the chance to take a really good look at it and make comments and judgements based on what they see.”
McConnell’s class introduces his students to many different kinds of wet and dry materials throughout the year, from Tempera paint and Chinese or Japanese inks for wet, or aqueous, mediums to charcoal and graphite for dry mediums.
Many other mediums meant a variety of work for the exhibit from beeswax and collage creations to the traditional forms of paint and charcoal drawings.
His student’s work runs the gamut, says McConnell, with a wide range of realistic to abstract works.
“I want my students to really be able to run that range of what we call more representational art, otherwise known as realistic, which may be more rigorous or traditional instruction in art and composition, and then on the other hand to be able to do things that are more inventive and abstract.”
McConnell is thankful to have the Gallery providing this opportunity for the students with such a supportive staff and community behind it.
Every year just keeps getting better and better, he says, with a great mix of programming.
Students will be using the space in a few weeks to take McConnell’s class while being surrounded by their work.
