"Art for Change" - Illinois State University

CVA Community Wall
40 foot
2016

Art For Change was on display at Illinois State University in the Center for the Visual Arts room 110. The student run exhibition was on display until December 1st, 2016. The Bloomington-Normal Art Collective held the free exhibition as a response to the recent presidential election. A lot, but not all, of the pieces showed very passionate feelings towards the election. Accompanied by the art was Release and Rebuild theme going on. Now I did not attend the opening performances or the closing talk by Barry Blinderman, I heard very positive things about them of course. A 40 foot gallery wall was available for all who attended to draw or paint something of their choice. When I went on the last day right before Barry's talk I noticed everyone had a similar voice on the wall of "love". Most messages on the wall were focused on love and the tough emotions America is going through with the election.

Emily Fry

"Untitled"

Litho

There were obviously a lot of pieces mocking Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton because of the focus. The piece by Emily Fry really to me was a stand out piece in the whole exhibition. The way Trump and Hillary were crafted was impressively realistic. Their facial expressions and especially Trump's hand motion he always does is what really did it for me. The attached skin from hand to face almost leaching life from each other really sent a strong message of how exhausting the whole election was. The piece gives off a gross feeling with the shading and detail of the attached skin and how it is pulling the skin around there eyes away is unnatural but very intriguing and that is what grabbed me.

Hayley Gray

"Hive"

Latex paint & permanent marker 

on veneer, acrylic on foam board

2016

I also wanted to cover the piece "Hive" by Hayley Gray. I really noticed this piece as soon as a walked into the exhibition because of the stand out blue back ground and distorted lump of flesh. I love how this piece has something in common with many other pieces in the exhibition. As I got closer the flesh colored lump I noticed that it was Trump because of the iconic hand gestures. I also really love the loosely crafted winged bugs and how they, as well as the Trump lump, give off a very disturbed aroma, a common feeling I got from many other pieces with Trump or Clinton as the subject matter.

Evan Morris

"Trump Protests"

Charcoal

2015

Bart Woodstrup

Border Control

There were a few subtle works that didn't flash in front of my face but still captured the theme of the exhibition without all of the flair. My soul seemed to be pulled towards Even Morris' piece "Trump Protests". I really connected to this piece because early on in the election I was in Chicago and heard about people outside of Trump Tower and I decided to stop by and this reminded me of that moment. I really love the dark ominous sky behind the tower. If you look closely you can see the detail of the building with the white strokes as well as the beautiful shading. The piece by Bart Woodstrup "Border Control" fell under the same category as Morris' piece. The medium of the piece was not listed but I assumed it was gently cut paper in the shape of a barbed wire fence. The craftsmanship of this piece had me in awe, I cant even imagine having the patience to carefully cut the material without tearing it. The fence obviously represents the idea of Trump's immigration policy. At the bottom of the fence is a bent up opening that someone could possibly crawl through and to me the entire piece gives off the idea that no matter what Trump does people will always find a way past.

I really hope everyone had the opportunity to see this amazing exhibition. Art for Change shows off it's wide range of technique and material uses. The show does amazing job of presenting the emotions we have gone through during this stressful election. The whole ISU community shows that we can come together to help one another and shouldn't be afraid to speak our minds.