The Spring 2019 Mixed-Media/Print Media 3 studio art class has completed a site-specific installation in the front window case at UNC Charlotte Center City. The colorful mixed-media work, “A Glass Rhinoceros,” explores concepts of movement, transformation, and perception and was inspired by two works of literature: Eugène Ionesco's play, Rhinoceros, and Paul Auster's novella, City of Glass.
The 13 students in the class created “A Glass Rhinoceros” as part of the course’s curriculum, which focuses on collaboratively-created, public artworks. The class started with the study of contemporary installation artists. The students then made several site visits to UNC Charlotte Center City using the light rail.
"The experience of these trips became fodder for the project, with students taking photos and making drawings from and on the train," an artist statement reads. "Students developed visual concepts in drawing, painting, and printmaking, examining the movement and shifting perceptions that one finds when moving through a city."
They installed the varied elements over a series of weeks, completing their effort in early May as the semester ended.
The Mixed-Media/Print Media 3 studio is taught collaboratively by Associate Professor of Painting Maja Godlewska and Associate Professor of Print Media Erik Waterkotte. Participating students on the project were Riley Atkinson, Charles Barnes, Jodi Eiler, Carlos Franco Morillo, Emma Hoffmann, Delaney Holcomb, Ashley Jung, Olivia Kane, Kaitlyn Linscheid, Lindsey Meyer, Madison Neal, Monica Rojas, and Nicole Thrower.
“A Glass Rhinoceros” will be on view through the summer.