Art Faculty Finally Does Some Work
By Lindsay Norcott
Staff Writer

Pianos, breach births, and sweatshops come together this semester at Pomona's Museum of Art. From January 21 through April 6, a Faculty Art Show will display the works of Pomona's art department professors. Chad Curtis (ceramics), Sheila Pinkel (photography), Michael O'Malley (sculpture), Enrique Martinez Celaya (painting), and Mercedes Teixedo (drawing and installation/performance) all showcase their work in this varied display of the talent in our midst.

"I really enjoyed seeing my professors' work in the show. It was nice to finally get to understand their work a little better and to see them as working artists, and not purely as art teachers," commented art major Toby Branz '05.

This exhibit gives students, professors, and community members an opportunity to see their professors' skills and knowledge in action. Curtis, new to Pomona this year, contributed three works to the show. He uses a process called "slip casting" to create many identical ceramic objects that have a clean and elegant, yet industrial quality to them. They are arranged so as to engage and challenge the viewer. All three pieces uses the theme of repetition.

Pinkel brings the issue of sweatshops and exploited workers into our backyard with pictures from both Bangkok and Downtown Los Angeles. Coupled with vibrant Cosmopolitan magazine covers, the gray composition of sweatshop photos makes even more apparent the gap between producer and consumer. Pinkel comments on the role of the U.S. prison system in society. A visual display of items that are manufactured by prison inmates, accompanied by statistics on who goes to jail, questions the ethics of prison labor and the fairness of the courts.

O'Malley contributes a physical work of sculpture and a collection of video sculptures. The more tangible of the two, a variation on the traditional bookcase, has been an ever-changing work throughout the course of the show. O'Malley periodically adds new parts to his room-filling sculpture. His collection of video sculptures is haunting, yet mesmerizing, and each challenges the common function or conception of a particular object. One video, titled "Breach", has the artist being pulled through a sheet of drywall, feet first, as some babies enter the world.

Exploring the relationship between creation and creator, Teixido constructed a device that connects the movements of a pencil on paper with the movements of a piano player's hands. The scrawled pencil scratches seem to contradict the graceful movements of the music that made them. Each drawing's title matches the name of the piano composition that produced it.

Martinez Celaya has accompanied his paintings with poetry. The somewhat somber paintings gain new warmth and depth when seen through the words of a poet. Martinez Celaya was actually trained as a physicist, and pursued quantum electronics in graduate school, before he became dissatisfied with the corporate world. He began devoting more time to his poetry and painting. His addition to the faculty art show displays his multi-faceted talent.

Lauren Moore '05 appreciated seeing such a variety of work. She remarked, "I really liked the blend of artists - all the different media and approaches in one community." Both faculty and student art shows are a great opportunity to see the diverse work created at Pomona.

In addition to its frequent faculty and student art shows, the museum also houses temporary exhibitions during the year. Currently showing are works by Steve Roden, who attempts to make academic intelligence primary in his engaging material creations. Roden's work will remain at the gallery through February 23rd. Also, senior Art History majors Julia Patzelt and Sarah Allen have organized a show from the under-exhibited collection of fine art that Pomona College owns. Pieces not ordinarily displayed together are placed side by side in a critical look at themes that continue through generations and locations. The Museum of Art is open Tuesday-Thursday 12 p.m.- 5 p.m., Saturday-Sunday 1 p.m. - 5 p.m., and can be reached at (909) 621-8283.