Monday, April 6, 2009

Senior Show and Reading, April 6

The second round of senior projects for the class of 2009 will be featured beginning Monday, April 6. The gallery will feature the work of artists Amanda Prue, Jeff Traynor, Emily Brochu and Joe Brown. The opening reception for the exhibition will be on Wednesday, April 8, from 7 to 9 pm at Wadleigh Library. Readings by Jeff Metcho, Laura Spencer and Maggie Hatfield will begin at 8 pm in the conference room adjacent to the gallery.






Tattoo by Amanda Prue.
Prue will be presenting “The Art of Tattoo,” an exhibition of tattoo “flash” art and art on skin, including designs and photographs of some of her work. Also attending will be recipients of Prue’s tattoos, showing off the work live.









by Jeff Traynor
Traynor’s show, “Four Years of Design,” is a collection of his graphic design work, specifically consisting of “three re-branded identities ... from local businesses.” The work includes business cards, letterheads, t-shirts, and vehicle signage.











by Emily Brochu
Brochu’s exhibition, “Character + Creativity,” is presented as a summary collection of graphic design work illustrating the four years of education she has received.









by Joe Brown.
“Hardcore Thanatos,” Brown’s exhibition, will consist of artistic photographs of roadkill.







The senior project gallery opening on April 8 will feature readings by graduating students Jeff Metcho, Laura Spencer and Maggie Hatfield.

Metcho will be reading from Like Gravity Falling Up, his novella. “I’ve been told that it reminds people of Nan Goldin’s photography,” he says of the piece. “I don’t know if that’s founded or not.”

Excerpt from Like Gravity Falling Up by Jeff Metcho:

“The walls were chipped and the bar was soaked and if the lights were any brighter you’d see some really suspect stains everywhere. The music was so loud that it seemed like it was trying to compensate for it being so bad. I could tell that Jade loved it here. It got her all goofed-up inside. Jade was the kind of girl that felt most at home in a place that would make most people feel dirty. It was a filthy and skeezy disco and she would not have wanted it any other way. I’d only known her for a few days and I could tell that about her. I don’t know why, I just can. I can tell things about people. It’s in the way that they walk and talk. It’s in the way that they dance.”


The Other Son is a collection of poetry in sections, written through the eyes of the different characters presented. Spencer will be reading excerpts from the work. She has used the opportunity as a chance to explore a less personal, and more character driven style of writing.

“So Let it Go,” from The Other Son by Laura Spencer:

So Let it Go

I tried to call you last night
but my fingers were tasteless.
The numbers were full of falsehoods
my throat, unarmed.

I tried to call you but day
made me worry that you really
never existed.
That my ready reading,
hollowed head,
tall tendencies,
and ineffable indifferences
made me lose sight.

Plus, the phone booth
was taken by a man with black eyes.
His hands dirty, pulse unknown,
lips chapped and filled with words.

He reminded me of you.


Hatfield will be presenting work from her currently untitled manuscript. Her work can be described as an eclectic, weird slam-style of poetic word constructions. “Word salad,” she says, jokingly, “which would be good if you covered it in ranch dressing.” She also writes fiction.

From “reconciliation poem.” by Maggie Hatfield:

“I’ve got a book of yellow poetry under my pillow with a cannon on the front,
manned by a typewriter.
The cold’s seepin’ into my fingers while I sit up late with these words I will never have the pleasure of knowing personally.
They’re clutchin’ tight to my chest in lamp light,
sneakin’ in and inching past my ribs, screaming admittance loud like a flash bang,
and though I give it readily,
it ain’t never enough to keep me satisfied.”


The gallery opening begins at 7 pm on April 8 in Wadleigh Library at Chester College of New England. Readings will commence at 8 pm in the Wadleigh conference room, adjacent to the gallery.

No comments: