Arts - Buffalo State College

28
Arts
the inside of the building, the exterior of the piece was blocked by the
architectural frame work of my installation, which opened up flush
with the gallery door, leading you into the interior of the piece. This
intimate tunnel of space, offset not only the efficiency of the original
room, but also presented new demands for movement such that
one needed to remain a conscious participant while they navigated
their way through the internal maze of the piece. Looking into the
gallery windows from the outside of the building, the viewer could
only see the exterior of the form, the architectural framework of the
installation, which played with the notion of public and private. I did
not intend to force upon the participant any conceptual narratives,
but instead, to provoke a dialogue through the basic elements of
movement, gesture, the material and its relationship to the form as
well as tension created by one’s place within space. I am interested in
the viewer’s passage through space and the ephemerality of certain
artistic forms. Most of my work is temporary and short lasting, either
because of its inevitable material decay or because it is installed in
a space for which there is a specific time limitation. Time, as such,
becomes a conceit in my work, a metaphor for ephemerality that
governs my forms and, at the same time, a literal reality. In some
ways, one’s interaction with my work actually mirrors the passagelike
process by which I create and then demolish it, disconnecting
it from that brand of sentimentality that looks to perpetuity for
safekeeping.
Presentation Type and Session: Poster II
Chemical Chromism: The Coloration of
Metal
Lena Scapillato, Metal/Jewelry
Faculty Mentor: Professor Steve Saracino, Design
Patination is a process where you alter the surface of a metal.
Through various hot and cold processes, different patinas occur. I
explored these methods, and observed how the metal reacted to the
processes. Within each process, different chemicals are used. These
chemicals range from household solutions such as ammonia and
vinegar to chemicals such as hydrochloric acid and cupric nitrate.
Not only were different chemicals used, but I also experimented
with a variety of application processes. Each sample of metal went
through a tedious progression of labeling, sanding and cleaning.
Patinas were practiced on each sample. I thoroughly recorded each
step I took in making every sample piece. With the use of each
patina, I created a plethora of colors and textures on metal. Some
recipes had more successful outcomes than others but overall I have
endless chromatic metal samples.
Presentation Type and Session: Poster I
Chromatic Modification In Sergei
Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5, Op. 100
Abigail Spoth, MUS 303W: Music History 2
Faculty Mentors: Professor Marc McAneny, Music and
Professor Carolyn Guzski, Music
In his Symphony no. 5 in B-flat Major, op. 100, Sergei
Sergeyevich Prokofiev (1891-1953) challenges traditional musical
idioms with the technique of chromatic modification, altering chord
tones by a semitone (the smallest notated interval between pitches in
Western music) to achieve new harmonic sonorities that define his
idiomatic dissonant texture. This technique creates a system in which
the composer’s sonic conception, while not unequivocally tonal (or
centered around a particular pitch, or tonic), operates within a tonal
framework and is, at the structural level, only a step or two removed
from traditional tonality. Prokofiev’s sound world, as defined by this
new technique of chromatic modification, is potentially problematic
in its deviation from strict common-practice tonality; the political
climate in the Soviet Union during the Stalinist era made innovation
difficult, if not dangerous. Works were declared either shining
examples of “Socialist Realism” or denounced as insidious
“Formalism” by censors employing an ill-defined (if even existent)
definition of both styles, making it difficult for composers to know
what exactly the political standards for music were. To satisfy both
the authorities and his own drive for innovation, Prokofiev mitigates
the potentially jarring nature of his musical style in Symphony no. 5
by anticipating the novel sonorities with either the new pitch itself or
its sonic register or timbre. This presentation will be an exploration
of these subtly dissonant instances using audio examples and score
excerpts, with some attention given to the quietly subversive nature of
the music given the political climate.
Presentation Type and Session: Oral – Humanities III
Cups of Fire
Robert Sturgess, Ceramics
Faculty Mentor: Professor Darien Johnson, Design
The Clay Gallery, a small cooperative gallery located in Ann
Arbor, Michigan, featured an exhibition called Cups of Fire. This
nationally juried exhibition was solely for cups and juried by
Susanne Beiner, an up and coming ceramic artist. I submitted a
small cup titled ‘Finger Cup’ that was accepted into the show. My
cup was one of 169 cups accepted out of a total 313 cups that were
submitted. I was afforded the amazing opportunity to attend the
opening reception and network with artists that are working in my
field as well as talk to some of the artists that are a part of the Clay
Gallery Cooperative. ‘Finger Cup’ began with a simple cup form
thrown on the wheel with a few sculptural elements such as a finger
and an eyeball on the outside, and a fingernail on the inside. For
surface treatment I chose to use a green glaze that varies in color
saturation from dark to light green with a nice red on the inside and
fired it to cone ten (2,345° Fahrenheit) in a reduction atmosphere
(reduced oxygen level). For the eyeball I used a ceramic technique