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Issue date: 11/5/09 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: Sarah Semmler Faculty art exhibit allows students to see their professors' art.

On Nov. 6, the "Faculty Art Exhibit" will be featured as part of the First Friday With the Arts event, sponsored by the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri.

Showcasing the creations of Southeast's Art department faculty, the work presented in the exhibit offers a rare glimpse into the creative and personal lives of Southeast professors. Emily Booth, featured faculty artist and curator of the show, explained that the exhibit is mutually beneficial for both students and faculty artists.

"It's really helpful for students because they see us as teachers all the time. We were artists first, we all have our degrees in our studio fields and then went into teaching, so we are artists first," Booth said. The faculty benefits as well, "It's good to have our own current work out there," Booth said, and explained that the River Campus Art Gallery is a comfortable space that provides a prime opportunity for peer review of the faculty's work.

The artwork featured in the exhibit is eclectic and is informed by the personal lives and experiences of the artists. "Teachers put their own lives into their art," Booth said,

"They are dealing with really personal issues. Not only does it allow students to see teachers as creative people, but as people with their own lives and their own concerns and its no longer this teacher, student scenario, it's person to person," Booth said.

Booth's own work, "10," which is showing as part of the exhibit embodies her own personal journey as an artist. "I'm coming off of a series of work that was really heavy, that was examining a lot of things like social institutions," Booth said, "I wanted things to be sort of light hearted, I didn't want it to be so heavy."

The result is a lively series displayed both in the River Campus Gallery and Crisp Museum that is inspired by Booth's interest in street art and graffiti.

Students interested in exploring the artwork on a deeper level will have the opportunity to do so at the gallery reception on Nov. 6.

The event will allow students to meet the faculty artists face to face and will provide ample opportunity for one on one discussion of the work. Such opportunities are invaluable for students. "[When I was a student] it was really helpful for me to see [teachers'] work so I could see that what they're teaching me is valid.

I could see they were making good work, and I could see what they were talking about [in class]. It helps to see all of those lessons born out in professional work," Booth said.

The Faculty Art Exhibit runs through Nov. 16 with the First Friday With the Arts reception on Nov. 6 from 5 to 7 p.m. Admission and transportation between venues are free and open to the public.

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