Department of Art and Design Spring 2022 BA/BFA Exhibition

Last Saturday, UWM’s Department of Art and Design hosted the Spring BA/BFA Exhibition on the 4th floor of Kenilworth Square East.

“It is really fascinating,” said Dominic Pham, a Milwaukee local who stumbled across the exhibit, “I am always looking for cool new things to do in the city.”

The pieces displayed are from a variety of different mediums with the Art and Design Program, including Photography, Painting, and Print and Narrative forms. The works displayed at the exhibit are representative of long semesters filled with hard work. Oliva Ann Tharpgeorge, a 23-year-old artist, explained that her piece took about a year to complete.

“I started conceptualizing it around spring of 2021,” said Tharpgeorge,” Over winter break, I began working on it, honestly it was all such a blur.”

Tharpgeorge’s piece Meditations in Neon reflects the patterns observed in nature. The bright, colorful lines layered upon the natural wooden foundation is a commentary on the perception between nature and fabrications.

“Pieces are very bright in color, so I look at bugs a lot, and the way mycology and mushrooms look,” said Tharpgeorge, “Even if people cannot communicate through languages, they can through art, whether it be music or visual art. It’s something that can make people feel things. And that is something I wanted to do.”

Across from Tharpgeorge’s piece is a collection of four abstract paintings. Black Joyful Life is designed to bring the wonder and delight of the African Diaspora as the portraits are of historical figures, including Mansa Musa, 9th ruler of the Mali Empire, and Pan-Africanist, Marcus Garvey.

“I wanted to compare and contrast the past and the present by what’s going on right now,” said Hanaan Bilal, the 28-year-old artist, and creator of Black Joyful Life, “things that never change such as systemic racism, and redlining, so I wanted to put out something positive and tell a story about me as a black woman and as a black artist.”