Reception: February 1, 5pm - 8pm
TCC Visual Arts + Design Center presents the work of its Visual Arts faculty in the 51st Annual Faculty Exhibition. This interdisciplinary exhibition illustrates a diverse range of art from our talented full-time and adjunct arts faculty. Recent drawings, graphic design, glass, mixed media collage, paintings, pottery, photographs will be shown together displaying a variety of themes and artistic practices.
This exhibition is on view in both the Towne Bank Gallery and Student Gallery at TCC's Visual Arts + Design Center located at 260 Boush St, Norfolk, VA 23510 (entrance College Pl and Boush).
For questions and sales inquiries about the exhibition please contact Curator Leslie Mounaime at lmounaime@tcc.edu or 757-822-1878.
Ed Francis
Rise
Serigraph print
2023
Rise is a color exploration in serigraph printing.
Ed Francis
Group of Slip Cast Ceramic Mold and Color Tests
Molded and Slip Cast Low Fire ceramic, Underglazes
2023
The Group of Slip Cast Ceramic Mold and Color Tests are a variety of molded forms cast in ceramic slip, decorated and decaled.
Ed Francis
Arm and a Leg
Cast and Polished Glass
2023
Arm and A Leg is an exploration in glass: two body casts, stylized, cold polished.
Micheal Wessel
The Bad Knight (Right)
Friday, July 8 (Middle)
Andre 2 (Left)
Photography
2019 (Bad Knight) / 2008 (Friday, July 8) / 2006 (Andre 2)
“The Bad Knight was taken on a movie set I was invited to be the still photographer on. Using a single strobe and battery pack I took portraits of the actors in their costumes. This actor was playing the role of an evil knight who was attacking villages and the main characters.
The piece Friday, July 8 is from my series called The Loving Family. In this series, I explore play therapy using dolls, doll furniture and hand built sets. The black white images like this one depict violence in the home, while the color photographs from the series depict the family as a facade to the public in which they interact.
For the piece Andre 2, during the time period that the image was taken, I was exploring street photography and looking for my own personal vision while exploring the streets and places of France. A friend and I were invited to the home of Andre and his wife for the afternoon. We all decided to skinny dip in the pool. I started taking photographs of Andre as he swam and bathed in the water."
James Williams
Tag Along For The Ride
My Visit to the Museum
On the Other Side of the Bridge
Mixed Media on Canvas
2022
“Densely-layered color field, large-scale abstract gestural paintings that are built up through layers of acrylic paint, graphite, ink, and tape on canvas. Subject matter derives from photographs, complicated interiors, exteriors, maps, and landscapes achieving a calligraphic complexity that resembles dense social environments. By using traditional materials to make art, I explore seemingly ordinary destinations and places of everyday life. I channel complex themes of self-expression but also traditional ideas associated with cartography and how maps are spatially oriented through abstract ideas. Though the work is sometimes a densely- layered color field, there is a strong contrast in the pieces between the chaotic overlapping colors and the structure provided by the use of geometric shapes and lines. These paintings can give you the freedom to navigate what's important about the journey and thus can help you determine how far your imagination wants to travel.”
Kelly Tregembo
Est. 2015
Norfolk Triptych
Collage Letterpress Wood Blocks (Est. 2015) / Paper Print Graphic Design (Norfolk Triptych)
2021 (Est. 2015) / 2023 (Norfolk Triptych)
Est. 2015—2015 was a defining year in my life—full of new beginnings. This piece represents my life journey prior to 2015, and also the new life that I established in 2015. Years prior to 2015, were full of challenges, trauma, and a life-altering diagnosis that not only, left me grieving for myself, but inspired me to start a new life. These experiences brought about an awareness of how short and delicate life is, and that each day is truly a gift, and is not promised to us. Each individual letterpress block has unique characteristics, shapes, and colors that I relate to the daily challenges, traumas, and experiences we face throughout our lives. Just like these letterpress blocks, life experiences can be small, big, dull, beautiful, wonderful, impactful, insignificant, or even life-shattering. Instead of focusing on just one significant experience, each one is unique and when combined together creates something new that is full of strength, resilience, wisdom, and beauty.
Norfolk Triptych– this poster series represents all that I am passionate about—graphic design, color, typography, community, family, travel, and history. The poster series includes one typographic poster design featuring the history of Norfolk, Virginia and two abstract city maps featuring the downtown area of Norfolk, VA. Adobe Illustrator was used to create the vector illustrations. Adobe InDesign was used to create the layout and design.
Marissa Angel
Arboreal Compilation IV (left)
Arboreal Compilation V (Middle)
Arboreal Compilation VI (Right)
Mixed Media
2023
“The works created from this material have a soft, blurred effect, the result of the ink bubbling on the waxy surface of the labels. In each work crossing intersecting the warning text from UPS labels, and the occasional logo create subtly flowing lines of text. To me these works are as much about the idea of repetition, as they are about fragmentation. Elements of the same photograph are repeated throughout each work. Layering the transparent layers of thin paper over top of each other creates ghost areas, where the image fades into the background. A visual representation of an interconnected grid- symbolic of our ever increasing interconnectedness as a society. Growing from that grid, strong resilient trees overlap, fragment, and repeat.”
Nate Avery
Home
Murweaving 1 and 2
Rags and Riches
Fused Glass / Kiln Formed glass / Cast glass
2023
In Home, I pursued playfulness through the subject of a toy boat on a small “play” map as one might find in any child's play area, and preciousness through the use of glass as my material. The method of “weaving” the glass and the toy boat being made of “rope” show a softness in the subject, almost safe, while the material being so hard, fragile, naturally reflective, refractive, and transparent makes the objects appear themselves ethereal or jewel like in nature making the idea of the memory that much more precious. Tidewater was and is my home and playground. I hope this piece reflects that preciousness.
Murweaving 1 and 2 is an exploration of the marriage of glass and textiles. I decided to play with the visual cues of the textile pattern while utilizing imagery building techniques in glass which can be used to multiply a single image. Through use of an, in this case bar, of glass which is fired and then chopped to reveal the image throughout the loaf, with each slice being a copy of the one before it with little degradation. The use of repeated patterns in both textiles and glass allows for an easy replication of one medium's language into another.
From the rattiest shop towel to the monogrammed handkerchief, and from the simplest cup to the finest of champagne flutes. Glass and textiles connect us all as humans in this modern age. We rely heavily upon each for different purposes, but the interconnection of these materials in our lives is a connection that has become so commonplace we often overlook the preciousness of that simple cup or that shop rag. This piece, Rags to Riches, is made with the intent of shining a spotlight on those things which connect us.
Melissa Schappell
Losing Game (left),
Fishing for a Wish (right)
Mixed Media & Collage
2023
“Losing Game is inspired by my personal experiences with chronic illness, specifically Fibromyalgia. Inspired by the game Operation, it represents both the physical symptoms and the mental anguish that is experienced when seeking medical care for "invisible" chronic illnesses. During the day, or within a bright room, the piece's outward appearance has a playful and inviting allure, however, as night and darkness approach, the space underneath the surface reveals itself in a more sinister and mysterious way via a remote operated led light system within the hand-crafted shadow boxes.
Fishing for a Wishing was inspired by the psychology of expectations and the consequences of placing too much of your self worth in the opinions of others. It juxtaposes the desire to seek words of affirmation from others with the warning of being careful what you wish for. A graphite rendered fishing pole and line is pulled tight as if it has caught something in this otherworldly pond, with the words “tell me” and ripples etched into the plexi-glass. The underwater environment is filled with hand crafted and collaged symbols that contradict each other in tone, as both an invitation and as a warning of what can happen if you place too much of your self worth in the hands of others.”
Kimberly Marina McKinnis
Water Mandela
Sheet Cast Paper, Blown Glass, Small Metals
2021
“This work includes paper that was cast off of the city of Norfolk water sewer manhole cover. The vessel above the additional cast paper piece slowly drips salt water to symbolize the encroaching ocean and the challenge our region faces with sea level rise. Any or all parts of the installation can be installed to accommodate the gallery space.”
Tom Siegmund
Drift (left)
Curly Maple Safe House (center)
Curly Maple Ice House (right)
Digital Photography on wood
“I tend to view my art making as a vehicle for story-telling and healing. My most current body of work, The Good House, examines the fluid nature of relationships and their complexities; our obsessions with the search for companionship; issues of love and intimacy, passages and journeys, in this particular case – the idea of house, home, and place. This body of work is fabricated in that the houses are created and then placed into surreal landscapes. The houses are in various stages of completion. Some are only frames; some are made of recycled materials and some show no signs of life or a slight hint of inhabitants. The houses are mysterious, haunting, dreamlike, anxious, dangerous, and perhaps even comical.
For many years as a child – my home was a temporary insecure and chaotic place. There is no doubt the work comes from there. The home I had longed for came to me many years later. The following passage is taken from The House of Breath written by William Goyen and continues to be a source of inspiration for me as I work through this extended body of images. ‘That people could come into the world in a place they could not at first even name and had never known before; and that out of a nameless and unknown place they could grow and move around in it until its name they knew and called with love, and call it HOME, and put roots there and love others there; so that whenever they left this place, they would sing homesick songs about it and write poems of yearning for it…and forever be returning to it or leaving it again!’”
Jeffrey Heiser
Broke Down (left)
Alone @ Night (right)
Not Your Average Rat Road
Photography
2018
“Through the lens of my camera, I seek to capture moments that might otherwise go unnoticed, and in doing so, reveal the extraordinary in the seemingly ordinary. Photography, for me, is a silent conversation between light and shadow, color and composition. It allows me to freeze time, creating a visual narrative that tells stories, elicits emotions, and sparks connections. Each photograph I take is a reflection of my fascination with the interplay of natural and artificial elements, the ever-changing dance of light, and the profound expressions of human life and nature. My aim is to evoke curiosity, to encourage viewers to see the world with fresh eyes, and to stimulate contemplation.
As an artist in the realm of photography and videography, I continually strive to refine my techniques, adapt to the ever-evolving world, and discover innovative ways to tell compelling stories. In my creative process, I am constantly learning and evolving, experimenting with new techniques and technologies to push the boundaries of what is possible. These tools, while essential, remain secondary to the core of my work, which is a relentless pursuit of authenticity, storytelling, and the celebration of the visual world.
Ultimately, my work is an invitation to see the world through my eyes. It is an exploration of the intricate details, the fleeting moments, and the profound beauty that surrounds us. I hope to inspire, inform, and, most importantly, to create a lasting connection with my audience.”
Knot Lindsey (Lindsey Rose Caputo)
this is the title through March 24 “ i was an undergrad when i made this”
Monofilament Fishing Wire, Sock, Hair, Wool
2016
“Each piece in this series is a self portrait, a sculptural drawing of my energy suspended in time.”
Mary Lee Shumate
Forgotten Melodies Part 1, The Fighter (Left)
Indecision (Right)
Digital Collage, Digital Print on Metal (Left) / Silkscreen print (Right)
2023
“The piece Forgotten Melodies Pt. 1, The Fighter is a digital collage portrait created using a mix of vintage imagery, ephemera, and personal archives.
The work Indecision is a typographic exploration based on analog and digital methods of creation. Born from an interest in exploring printmaking methods, I used this as an opportunity to experiment with analog processes and step out of my comfort zone. Using a typographic doodle as a foundation, I created a composition using design software. This composition was the foundation for stencils. The most detailed visual layer’s design was transferred directly to a screen; the other color layers were created with stencils cut out of newsprint. The piece is a work in progress; a journey of opposing forces.”
Christine Chzasz, M.F.A
Calhoun’s County Gulf Station in Henrico, Virginia (left)
Old Barn in Cripple Creek Wythe County, Virginia (center)
The WashHouse in Greene County Shenandoah, Virginia (right)
Etching Prints
2023
All these works displayed are a part of a series called Virginia's Past. The intention of this series is to document through etchings each location visited, for the viewer to see how former Virginia's homesteads now look.
Anna V. Freeman
Progression I & Progression II (wall installations)
War of Extremes (pedestal sculpture)
Porcelain with glaze
2023
“In this body of work, I contrast areas of cracked clay with glossy pools of raindrops, flowing across the surfaces of my ceramic sculptures to create abstract aerial landscape views. This series highlights what is not visible, including water availability and other human environmental impacts, through abstracted micro and macro views of our world. My work explores our relationship with the environment, particularly our role in climate change and in transforming the surface of the earth.
I construct my sculptures from wheel-thrown porcelain cylinders, altered and combined to create asymmetrical sculptural forms and softly curved wall-hung tiles. I use a range of surface design techniques to create subtle low-relief imagery. After bisque firing, I apply layers of glazes to create contrast between glossy and matte surfaces, resulting in a balance of color and texture.”
Heather Boone
Everlasting Disappointment (Parts One - Seven)
Graphic Design
2022
“This series, Everlasting Disappointment, exposes sexist language in pop culture artifacts through typography, prompting the viewer to confront outdated and objectifying societal norms. The series provokes introspection about normalized sexism ingrained in our culture, challenges perceptions and encourages a reevaluation of entrenched societal constructs.”