In Bi-Annual Open Studios Event, the Department of Art Invites the Community to See Students’ Creative Spaces
It can be difficult to understand the entire creative process behind a piece of artwork — how did an artist conceptualize their idea, what materials are available to them and where do they work? At BYU, the Department of Art is attempting to shed light on these elusive questions through their bi-annual Open Studio events.
At the end of the fall and winter semesters, the Department of Art offers community members an exclusive sneak peek into the minds and studios of student artists. Friends and family of these students come together to enjoy refreshments, camaraderie and impressive artwork. The group traveled from 3D studios in the sculpture building (B-66), to 2D studios in the Jesse Knight Building and lastly to the West Campus Central Building to see the Annual Student Exhibition in the Weight Room Gallery.
In the Open Studios, Payden Mouritsen explained that she solely hand builds her ceramic pieces. “I do not throw them on a wheel,” Mouritsen said, “which is unique in the world of ceramics.” Mouritsen is interested in ceramics as a material medium and often plays with texture in her pieces. She explained that her pieces utilize a “heavy emphasis on materiality and texture as a way to convey nature.”
Also connected to nature, Ally Faber’s collection of sky paintings stems from her childhood obsession with clouds. The day her aunt passed away, she noticed that there were no magical clouds in the sky: “It was just freaking blue.” While mourning her aunt’s passing and the empty sky, Faber thought, “it’s kind of interesting — on the day that she became absent, the clouds in the sky were also absent.” She started painting sky gradients, and they received positive feedback from her professors. Faber says these paintings will eventually be a set of nine.
From ceramics and sculpture to paper and paint, BYU art students are living proof that their studios are more than just physical places where they complete class assignments — they are spaces of artistic exploration.
