Nearly 40 former and current faculty and students from the WVU Printmaking, Sculpture and Ceramics departments will be featuring their work during an exhibition Friday evening.
“Deep Cuts” will be hosted by the Galactic Panther gallery, 462 Dunkard Ave. in Westover.
Event organizer and gallery owner Eli Pollard said he was compelled to host the event in response to recent cuts made to the three creative arts programs. The artists invite the community to stand in solidarity with them against the elimination of the programs.
“I’m very excited for it,” Pollard said. “We’re going to have a lot of people in that are being affected by what’s happening here at the school and it’s just a platform to get together and talk about what’s going on and see if there’s something that can be done.
“A lot of people are feeling unheard – not only disrespected, but just not heard,” he said. “This is a very kind of modest megaphone if you will, or a small platform maybe – but it’s at the very least a gathering space for people who create culture and through that create community and through that community create economic development – all things that are just being tossed aside seemingly.”
Pollard is a WVU graduate of the printmaking program who returned as a faculty member – but that is now coming to an end, he said. “It was some of the best years of my life. I had an incredible time not just socially, but learning-wise it was just a really great time of growth for me.”
The event will feature live music throughout the evening by Francisco Amaya, Lester James, Jarrod Ott and Dave Reyn. There will also be food and, weather permitting, a bonfire. Pollard said three out of the four musicians are alumni of one of the three departments and the fourth is a professor from another department.
Joseph Lupo, associate director of WVU School of Art and Design, professor and coordinator of Printmaking, said it’s important to show that these programs are vibrant and active with current students and alumni.
“Some of the alumni that will be shown are people who have careers here in Morgantown – art careers making work, selling work – living off of what they make,” Lupo said.
In Lupo’s opinion, the perception of the starving artist has misguided the perception of the value of a fine arts degree.
“Many of the alumni showing in this show have chosen to live in Morgantown, have chosen to live in West Virginia and contribute to the local and state economy,” he said. “There are more lucrative places for artists to live, but they have made that decision to stay and help make Morgantown and West Virginia a better place to live.”
Pollard and Lupo expect a good turn-out from alumni and members of the tight-knit visual arts community.
“We’ve reached out to a lot of alumni and instantly they all understood the value in this and wanting to support this,” Lupo said. “I think it just shows that artists really value the education that they get when they have a visual arts education. It’s something that they seek out. It’s something that serves a specific purpose.”
“I think one of things that kind of gets lost in all of this is we are living in, and we’ve been living in, a very visual society right now. We communicate a lot through images, and I think creating a population who understands how to communicate visually when creating their own content but also when they are interacting with somebody else’s visual content,” he said. “Understanding what it is that they are being told and being able to really understand the messaging that’s behind that.
“I think anytime when you are going to be losing education and the visual arts, I think that is going to be part of what you are losing – less people understanding what it means to communicate visually when it seems our culture and our society is moving more and more towards that kind of communication.”
The Deep Cuts Exhibition will run from 5:30-9:30 p.m. on Friday and is free to attend, however the artists’ work will be available for purchase. A portion of the sales will be donated to food shelters and other community organizations.
“I started Galactic Panther from day one with the premise that a portion of every sale would go towards feeding people in need,” Pollard said. “So, locally I’ve worked with the Shack, Pantry Plus and Scott’s Run Settlement House … not that we are able to give a lot, but considering it’s an art gallery we do everything we can to support them.”
Lupo said a big thank you is due to Pollard who immediately wanted to host an event when the cuts began. “We really just appreciate him doing this. It just shows that alumni are invested in the continuing success of the School of Art and Design.”
For a full list of participating artists, visit the Galactic Panther gallery Facebook page and click on the events tab then the Deep Cuts: An Exhibition from the WVU Printmaking, Sculpture, and Ceramics Departments.
