As defined by urbandictionary.com, “Goosnargh: a special Betelgeusian word used when something should be said but speaker does not know what it should be. From Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.”
Between March 31 and April 4, Zavitz Gallery hosted GOOSNARGH, its final show of the school year, showcasing the final projects by students in the Specialized Studio program.
The Specialized Studio is an opportunity for students to complete a major independent project throughout the fall and winter semesters, and is designed to prepare them for graduate school and/or professional art projects.
This year’s students were Sean Abraham, Laurel Barr, Rachel Crawford, Victoria Day, Samuel de Lange, Dana Deming-Watson, Mariah Hamilton, Sarah Hughes, Rachel Kopacki, Rachael Loree, Jacquelyn Parent, River Roy, Jessie Sawyers, Savannah Snook, Loretta Steeper, Susannah van der Zaag, and Daniel Willison.
Unlike the Specialized final show last year, in which students made miniatures of their work to fit in the gallery space, this year’s class decided to exhibit in two spaces: Zavitz and the Project Space in Alexander Hall. This way, the class was able to make decisions based on the relationships they found in each other’s work to create two separate shows.
What was apparent from the two shows on campus is that the students in the program take a lot of pride in their work. From the Open Studio tours during the March 19 Shenkman Lecture in Contemporary Art, it was clear they all make a lot of work and base their finals products on carefully thought and executed processes. Each student made sure to put forth their very best work when exhibited, and was conscious of the spatial, conceptual and formal relations to the pieces made by their peers.
This attention to continuity was especially important in the full class show at the Boarding House Gallery, up from April 10 to 26, titled GOOSNARGH 2.0.
The best part about group shows is the opportunity for the viewer to experience a wide selection of artworks. The difficulty comes from making sure not to over-stimulate your viewers.
The class did a fantastic job of creating their own separate spaces that convey the individualities of their projects while being careful not to impede on the spaces of other students, but also create a cohesive exhibition.
There are connections in the whimsical, material-centric (using fabric, wood, string, etc.), and sculptural works of Rachel Kopacki and Mariah Hamilton that can be juxtaposed nicely with Susannah van der Zaag’s close-up photographs of coloured backdrops against backdrops.
Shown together, the colour-based paintings of Sara Hughes and the large abstract “YouTube” paintings by Rachel Crawford looked almost as though they could be part of the same series.
Sam de Lange’s large, chemically formulated nonrepresentational photograph complimented Sean Abraham’s textural painting of almost abstracted trees, with a visual and material mediation by Dana Deming-Watson’s delicate and intricately carved abstract steel sculpture in between the two.
River Roy’s found postcards, like vintage representations of popular “Missed Connections” websites, were scattered carefully throughout the gallery, drawing an invisible line through the show and between everyone’s works.
What is certain from this final exhibition is that each student in Specialized is very confident in their working methods, their materials, and their ideas—which is a wonderful circumstance to be in as per the goals of the Specialized Studio program, and it is a testament to the program’s efficacy.
The running, underlying theme of GOOSNARGH 2.0 could be seen as simplicity. While the exhibitions in Zavitz and Alexander afforded the opportunity to show larger works, the Boarding House show displayed more of an attention to detail as all students came together in one space.
The ambition and hard work apparent in the artworks of all students in this year’s Specialized Studio class should take them to new and exciting places beyond their undergrad experience, and we can be sure to see their names again someday.
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The Ontarion publishes independent, student-produced news, opinion, and commentary for University of Guelph students so that they can make informed decisions in their lives. To do this, The Ontarion provides learning opportunities and training in journalism, media production, leadership, board governance, and other aspects of nonprofit news.
The Ontarion is the University of Guelph’s independent student newspaper. It began in 1951 as part of the Ontario Agricultural College and then began to represent the entire University of Guelph once it amalgamated in 1964. The Ontarion incorporated in May 1970 as The Ontarion, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation registered with the province of Ontario.