Claire Fiedler’s artwork will be in a juried traveling art exhibit.
It all started as a dream for Claire Fiedler.
In the dream she arrived at her family’s lake cabin. She begins to walk into the water as storm clouds are gathering in the sky. The wind starts blowing and she sees someone on the shore. Fielder said they are waving to her and they look sad. Then the wind blows her hair into her face she loses eye contact. She turns around and walks willingly into the water.
It was through this dream that Fiedler, a senior art major, was inspired to make her work, titled “The Dream.”
But she was not dreaming when she found out that her work was accepted into the juried photography show “Double Exposure” at the Blue Door Gallery in Yonkers, N.Y. She is one of 20 people chosen to be represented in the show.
Fiedler is one of 12 art students from MSUM whose work has been chosen to be displayed in juried exhibits this year across the country from Savage, Minn., to Chicago and New York and in online galleries.
Fiedler said her process for creating “The Dream” was different than how she normally formulates ideas for her work. Starting with the dream sequence in the lake, she created a three-part story displayed in film-strip like accordion books.
“I wanted to make a beginning to the dream, so I thought, ‘What is the opposite of water? Forest.’ The first book is me running through a forest, like I am part of the forest.”
Her piece was inspired by a dream she had.
In the second book, Fiedler created the transition from forest to water, highlighting the textures of sand and rocks. The third book includes the original scenes from her dream where Fiedler is walking into the water. All three books contain a mixture of regular photos and double-exposure photos, which give the photos extra texture and a different perspective.
“Because my dreams are never clear I wanted to show my photos in double-exposure, which is two images on top of each other, so it’s kind of hard to get all the information,” Fiedler said. “I used layering and texturing effects from the photos to create the double-exposures.”
Fiedler said that she was excited when she found out that her work had been chosen, but it was more a feeling of accomplishment.
“It’s a feeling of being validated, in a way,” Fiedler said. “The work that you have made, you put everything into it and (the gallery) says ‘Yeah, we’ll put this on display for everyone to see,’ it’s really cool. It feels good.”
Courtney Johnson is a studio art senior whose work was chosen to be displayed in the Light, Space and Time online gallery show, in the Nature category.
Johnson captured her photo that was represented in the gallery while on a trip to the Isle of Harris in Scotland with the art and design department last summer. She said the photo contained everything she felt about the trip.
“One night I was out on a walk, and the sun was setting and a few sheep were quietly grazing on the top of this hill, and I just snapped the photograph,” Johnson said. “It captured how I felt the entire time I was on Isle of Harris: tranquil, part of the landscape.”
As well as being chosen for the online gallery, Johnson received the Special Recognition Artist Award. Her work was chosen from 672 entries from 20 countries.
“I was very surprised,” Johnson said. “With how many applicants there were, it was humbling that my work was chosen.”
Johnson said having her work chosen for the gallery is not only great for her resume, but, like Fiedler, she sees it as a great confidence booster to go on and apply to more shows.
According to Dragon Digest, 10 other students had their work chosen to be shown in juried galleries.
Ashley Wegh, Ashley Transgrud, Caitlin Abram, Haley Frost, Kristen Perala and Roni Delany were chosen as finalists for the Photographer’s Forum Annual College Photo Competition. Their work will be featured in the Best of College & High School Photography 2013 annual publication.
Brittany Cossette is exhibiting in the Light, Space and Time online gallery, in the abstract category, she received the Special Recognition Artist Award.
Ashley Strazzinski’s work is showing in the International Open at the Woman Made Gallery in Chicago.
Caitlin Abram and Angela Buchanan had their work accepted into the Savage Arts Council’s Seventh Juried Art Competition & Show in Savage, Minn.
BY KAYLA VAN EPS
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