Faculty Biennial 2024

Printed Illustrations from Body-Neutral Fitting: Pants. Make The Pants You Want To Wear by Ruth Collins.
Illustrations by Martine Barnaby.

As part of the exhibition, a large mural was drawn on the wall to accompany the space of the prints.

Window Dressing is an immersive glimpse into the artist's eyes that was obtained in a medical scan of their interiors during an exam. Through images that are typically magnified for the purposes of examination or discovery, this exploration uses hyper-exaggerated imagery to reveal an aspect of a living organism, amplified and mined to obtain information for visual representation that the unaided human eye cannot see. It is a window, a conduit, that invites one to be present in a space that is not ordinarily revealed. This narrative examines the duality of left and right, light and dark emotions, through fabricated aquatic organisms.

It is often said that 'eyes are the window to the soul,' conceptualizing that one may understand a person's emotions and thoughts by looking into their eyes. Window Dressing is defined as "a practical yet superficial or distorted presentation of something designed to create a constructed impression." If we look into one's eyes, do we perceive their thoughts and emotions, or do we see what they want us to see, a practical, constructed pseudo-reality, a 'window dressing?'  

As artists, we study to understand the brain's functionality across its hemispheres. Imagination, holistic thinking, intuition, feelings, visualization, and daydreaming are delegated to the brain's right side. In contrast, the left side of the brain is associated with logic, sequencing, linear thinking, facts, and thinking in words. The projected images are an interpretation of juxtaposition, left and right, interior and exterior, depicting the vast complexities and innumerable emotions of the soul through corporeal and visual projection."

 Video projection and animation

“Organism” is a microscopic narrative that examines the generation of entities that exhibit properties of life. More specifically, the microorganisms that are hidden and only exposed through magnification. This work explores the layering of everyday experiences through abstracted microbes, revealing interaction, transformation, permanence, and passing. The projected vignettes depict a morphology of narrative units that reference the structure of classic storytelling.  Through the use of straight-ahead animation techniques and image compositing, tiny life forms are exposed and invented. The scientific-like images question the authenticity of the organism and allude to the underlying heartbeat of a projected society.

Animation, Video Installation

Stream-of-conscious drawing . Little loops. Until they felt complete. A few a day, short bits at a time.  Unconcerned with revision or perfection. Take a step. Move forward. Unafraid to make the first mark in a new sketchbook. Love the process. Let the mistakes breathe. With intention.

Loop.

The trope of Little Red Riding Hood. What about imperfection? Or surprise? What if Red and Wolf were close friends, the crush of danger replaced by a trusting relationship in which they took glorious daily walks in the forest? And what if they were accompanied by an out-of-place creature that symbolizes balance, acceptance, and the ability to flow with life?

Loop.

Collaboration with photographer Dewey Neild, who photographs waterfalls yearly to be featured in his Waterfalls of the Finger Lakes calendar.