The annual Staff Art Show has turned heads since its first exhibition in 2011.
Presented by the Davis Center Art team and held in the Livak Fireplace Lounge, the Staff Art Show displays the artistic skills of UVM’s own faculty.
The exhibition was unveiled on Feb. 2 with an opening reception to celebrate the artists. The show will remain in the Lounge until Thursday, March 5.
This year, the show features a wide variety of mediums, including paintings, photography, beading and needle felting.
Upon entering the Lounge, one’s eye is immediately drawn to a large needle-felted sea turtle. The turtle swims through a colorful reef with fibers flowing one into the next, mimicking the ocean current.
Next to the turtle hang two three-dimensional mosaics depicting flowers in vases. Their crystal petals glitter in the sunlight filtering through the room’s large windows.
Below this arrangement, a large ceramic creature curls in on itself. The spikes on its worm-like body protrude from the rolls of flesh and create a dramatic change in texture between the pieces.
Hidden away near the elevator hangs a grand white shawl. The drapes and folds of the fabric catch the light, creating long, deep shadows, emphasizing the delicate pattern woven into it.
Many more pieces line the walls of the Livak Fireplace Lounge, carefully arranged by the DCArt team, who are responsible for curating almost all of the art hung in the Davis Center.
The staff who participated this year ranged from lab technicians to housing administrators, representing a wide range of the University faculty.
Paul Goldberg, an administrative assistant in the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment, submitted a painting to the show. Titled “Windswept #4,” the piece is located on the right-hand wall of the entrance to the lounge.
The abstract painting almost seems to sway with the motion of the color. Greens and browns flow evenly into each other while the blue dripping over the bottom of the piece creates a stark contrast.
The piece reveals many landscapes: a mountain range split by a dirt path, a bright green valley hugging the side of a highway, a blue sky streaked with clouds.
“I attempt to paint the perceiving in which a landscape is known, rather than a landscape itself,” Goldberg said.
As professionals and creatives simultaneously, the artists must balance their careers and artistic passion.
“Currently, I have a window in my office, but many employees work in cubicles without windows; no trees nor sky nor birds nor squirrels to see,” Goldberg said.
Goldberg mentioned an issue that affects many artists – relying on other jobs to get by, while also having their creativity drained by their workplace. Bland, monotonous offices do not stimulate imagination; in fact, they do quite the opposite, he said.
The Staff Art Show demonstrates that, despite these conditions, artists have the will to simply create for art’s sake.
