By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The Moss-Thorns Gallery of Art on the Fort Hays State University campus is hosting a graduate student exhibitoin through Oct. 1.
The exhibit features graduate students from disciplines from across the art department.
Tyler Dallis, a photography and ceramics major, has three pieces in the exhibit. The first is a set of photographs depicting him at his three jobs outside of school. He works at the Moss-Thorns gallery, Dillons and teaches at a community college. The sepia photos are in hand-made frames and he said relate to how he feels about each job.
His second piece is a photograph titled "Release." It is a self-portrait of himself covered in cellophane with white handprints all over his body. He said it relates feelings of anxiety.
His third piece, a much more light-hearted series of photographs, depicts his friends, each with a flower superimposed over them.
When you are given flowers, your brain releases the feel-good chemicals dopamine, oxytocin and serotonin. Dallis said he wanted to express the joy his friends bring to him.
Tanner Hoffman's focus is sculpture and printmaking. His piece "Pareidolia" is constructed from cast iron and steel. Hoffman of Johnstown, Pa., explained the piece as an exploration of form and texture. The bed of metal floats on an almost weightless bed of rings, he said.
His lithograph titled "My Dad's Crystal Meth Craft Shed" is part of greater series titled "Idle Hands." The series explores his relationship with his father, who was a drug addict.
"He had a duality about him," Hoffman said. "He had a violent streak. He had a problem with drugs. He had all these problems with relationships and me, but he had this weird side to him where he could be very gentle and caring. He could be very creative."
Kammy Kennelley-Downs has one piece in the exhibit, "Journey Begins." The fiber piece is all about seeds. In the beginning of a seed's life, it is blown around.
Kennelley-Downs said she identifies with the movement of the seed. She's moved 30 times in her life from California to Missouri. She is part of FHSU's low-residency program and lives in Kansas City, Mo.
"It's a little bit about my path — being blow all around — but it's also about growth," she said.
The main fabric is a piece of muslin that Kennelley-Downs found in her grandmother's attic. It was likely originally destined to be a quilt back. The image on the piece is created with ink, graphite, coffee and hand-stitched silk.
Kathy Robb showed another of her ceramics pieces that will be a part of her thesis exhibit that is scheduled for Jan. 24-Feb. 25 in the Moss-Thorns gallery. This piece titled "Eaves Dropper" depicts a chameleon on a branch.
Robb takes her inspiration from nature and animals and often assigns human characteristics to the creatures she sculpts.
She said the chameleon, which can rotate its eyes 180 degrees is like the neighborhood snoop.
Thomas Giebler of Andover is focusing on motion design. His animated promotional video is showing in the south section of the gallery and depicts a robot trying to reboot a complex computer system. In the end, the problem is solved by simply unplugging and replugging in the computer.
He is also exhibiting a digital illustration titled "How Long, How Long." The image is autobiographical of Giebler as he was trying to manage the isolation of the pandemic. It depicts him under a small rock overhang warming himself by a fire with an endless string of hash marks behind him on the rock.
"The painting represents my feelings of feeling a little bit trapped," he said, "like the unease of everything going on and 'When will this end?'"
Giebler said he hopes teach animation when he finishes his MFA.