On any given day, various beautiful, meaningful, representational pieces of artwork hang in the Wise Auditorium Art Gallery for students and faculty on campus to admire. The current display is a little different. It isn’t from the far East or even the art hubs like New York and Los Angeles. This display, showcases the prints of two men who teach the craft here at TJC.
“Painting is a blind man’s profession. He paints not what he sees, but what he feels, what he tells himself about what he has seen,” said Pablo Picasso.
Christopher Stewart created the prints and Derrick White did the paintings. Both gentlemen are art professors and have been creating art for a very long time.
“There’s a subtle difference between what Chris does and what I do,” said White.
One letter separates the two words. Prints are done on paper while paintings are created usually on a canvas.
Prints are “like a stamp, you don’t know what you got until you pull it off the plate,” said Stewart.
Paintings can have different images and print is usually making one kind of piece. Every art piece is different however and is hard to specifically define.
“There are similarities in our approach I think how we look at art and how we make pictures, we just come at them in different directions,” said Stewart.
“The idea comes from the process and the image comes from the making,” said White.
Each individual is going to perceive art in the way they specifically see it. Even though the artist meant for their painting or print to be seen one way, it may speak to the viewer differently.
It is Christopher Stewart’s hope that students “come in and have some unexpected moments of engagement and see some interesting things in colors, some can be deeper, some can be more profound than others. I think just trying to get someone to stop and look at something for a little while.”
The gallery has both White and Stewart’s work displayed. The prints compliment the paintings that make for a fantastic exhibit.
“I think there’s some beautiful images, it’s a very compelling collection of pieces in the show…to get people to stop for a minute and to consider something and look at something a little differently,” said Stewart.
The exhibit will remain open until April 11. The gallery is open from 9 a.m. – 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.
