Diversity 365 Gallery Exhibition #2

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Ashley Thompson (TRCC), Generational Dreams, photography, 2021.

David C. Jackson (TxCC), Duke of Wellington, oil and acrylic on canvas. 2021.

Patrick Keller (TRCC and QVCC), Colors, digital, 2022.

 

 

Madeeha Sheikh (NVCC), In My Room, reduction relief print, 2022.

David C. Jackson (TxCC), Heart of the City: HArtford Love, acrylic on canvas. 2022.

Elisa Eaton (MCC), Medicine Shield, Mixed media – clay, macrame, feathers. 2022.

 

 

Elizabeth Efenecy (GCC), Openness is the Key, acrylic gouache. 2022.

Kristin Lund (HCC), Hvergelmir, oil on canvas, 2022.

 

Madeeha Sheikh (NVCC), Shaadi, reduction relief print, 2021.

The Donald R. Welter Library at Three Rivers Community College is proud to present Exhibition #2 in the new Diversity 365 Gallery. Exhibition 2 features two-dimensional work in a variety of media created by six non-faculty staff members representing seven colleges in the CSCU system, as well as one student from Three Rivers Community College. All work explores the themes of diversity, equity, and inclusion. This second Diversity 365 exhibition will run through December 12, 2022 and can be viewed in person in the Library, Monday – Thursdays, 8:30 am – 8:00 pm, and Fridays, 8:30 am – 3:00 pm.

Of the more unusual two-dimensional media represented in this show are the reduction relief prints by Madeeha Sheikh and Patrick Keller’s digitally-created visualization of a passage from the Black Pumas’ song “Colors.” Reduction relief prints are created through a complex process through which sections of the printing block are carved away before each new color is layered over the others. Madeeha Sheikh, a staff member at Naugatuck Valley Community College, used the reduction relief process to create her 5-color non-representational self portrait “In My Room,” which features the artist’s clothing, the salwar kameez hanging in the closet, and the black leather jacket and boots placed around the chair, to suggest her personality. While Sheikh’s work explores themes of queer South Asian Muslim personhood, she discusses in her artist’s statement that this self-portrait “relates to the way each person can be perceived by others as many different people, and the boundaries that exist between these identities.”

Patrick Keller, a staff member at Three Rivers Community College, digitally created a visualization of a passage of music from the Black Pumas. His 12 x 48-inch print entitled “Colors” is composed of colored rectangles, each representing a single musical note from the song. The vertical length of a colored rectangle corresponds to the note’s frequency, while wider rectangles correspond to longer notes in the passage. Added to this visualization, Keller repeats his colored rectangles pattern four times, each filtering the assigned colors of the notes to represent differences in color vision: Trichromacy, Deuteranopia, Tritanopia and Achromatopsia. In his artist’s statement he writes “Thinking about diversity, equity, and inclusion, it’s important to remember that we don’t all see the same way. There is beauty in exploring these differences, and in recognizing that we are all much more than meets the eye. The song “Colors” itself is an ode to diversity in the world around us as a source of joy.”

Additionally, the exhibition features the ceramic-macrame-feathers mixed-media wall hanging “Medicine Shield” created by Elisa Eaton from Manchester Community College; two acrylic and oil paintings by David C. Jackson from Tunxis Community College which explore the tensions between success and ‘trappin’; the acrylic gouache “Openness is the Key” by Elizabeth Efenecy from Gateway Community College; the stunning oil painting “Hvergelmir” by Kristin Lund from Housatonic Community College which visually depicts the source of all rivers and collective wisdom in Norse mythology; and Ashley Thompson’s photographic triptych “Generational Dreams.” Thompson has the distinction of being the only student whose work was included in this exhibition. Hailing from Three Rivers Community College, we are particularly proud of her efforts. The library will host a closing reception for Exhibition #2 on Tuesday, December 13, from 6-8 P.M. All are invited to attend and meet the artists.

Exhibition #3 is scheduled for the Spring 2023 semester and will be an open call to the CSCU community and CT’s general public. Announcements about the submission deadlines and procedures will be posted to the gallery’s webpage ( www.threerivers.edu/diversity365 ) by the middle of December 2022. The selection committee will begin to choose art for the Gallery’s permanent collection during the Spring 2023 semester. The purchase of the collection will be funded by the Three Rivers College Foundation. Questions? Please email Laura Vasselle, Reference & Instruction Librarian.