NYC: A Cultural Mecca for Art Students

By mid-20th century, New York City had become the center of the art world. Though a strong international art movement exists today, the Big Apple remains one of the leading centers for art. Area institution Minnesota State University Moorhead has a venerable history of promoting the humanities, and in the arts, MSUM has a reputation of providing a rigorous studio art and graphic design program.

Enter: MSUM professor John Volk, a former resident of Manhattan and a man with a superb art-education vision. With many personal connections to New York galleries, museums, and working artists, Volk spearheads one of the most exciting summer art programs for area students, an extended stay in New York where students rub shoulders with the city, museums and galleries, and professional artists. From these experiences, they create individual artworks.

Of the seventeen art students who took part in the month-long program, I spoke with Dustin Young, Matthew Sprung, Jen Scheuer, and Sara Julsrud who all described the MSUM New York Experience as “Amazing!” Students Dustin Young and Matthew Sprung agreed that “running across the hall for critiques” [they stayed at NYU in dormitories] was a highlight of their experience. The students concurred that the energy of the city and the ability to not only study with their mentor John Volk in these environs, but to rapidly create work in response to their surroundings was enormously satisfying.

But on to the work: Both postmodern and traditional art styles are represented, along with a variety of subjects. Dustin Young took over 1200 digital New York photographs, from which he has created drawings and paintings. His oil pastel Transit depicts the Franklin Street subway exit. This work features a unique combination of non-objective areas with fine realistic detail.

The orangey, greenish, and blue background is reminiscent of Turner’s Rain Stream and Speed paint application. The realistic rendering of the subway station plays off the nebulous background like poignant life moments appearing in an otherwise non-descript existence. Delicate incised lines that mime the subway station map enhance the charming textural quality of the work.

Young’s watercolor of two New York police officers speaks to his technical prowess and his ability to capture personality and mood in a city setting. This is a versatile artist whose strengths include sound draftsmanship, the interplay of established styles, and a personal twist.

Matthew Sprung’s background in graphic design informs his fine art approach to portraiture. His gigantic pixelated self-portrait—about 12x15 feet—references the technological age. Sprung painstakingly spray paints circular shapes on a white background to form his image of self, or is it a self-image? His aesthetic invites the viewer to move about the gallery space, bringing the image in and out of focus depending upon the distance the viewer is from the object. Sprung’s scale is impressive, as is his ability to capture his “essence” in the process, while slyly asking the viewer to weigh the appropriateness of using technology to a fine art end.

“Will Cotton’s imagery drives me nuts,” art student Sara Julsrud said when discussing her work. The reader should know that Will Cotton paints images of female nudes, often in seductive poses. Julsrud decided to parody Cotton’s iconography by painting the male nude in a sexy pose. Julsrud’s nude has his head flung back and is resting on a flamingo pink background. “The pink looks more like Pepto Bismol,” the artist said with good humor, suggesting that Cotton’s images deserve to be parodied via the color of a popular stomach medicine.

In addition, Julsrud has created a series of toned drawings that depict “loneliness.” “It seems,” she remarked, “that individuals can go through their whole lives in the city and still be lonely.” This isn’t a new idea of course, but the young artist witnessed the phenomenon first hand and was moved to objectify her feelings. The drawings are masterful, with subtle, sensitively placed details. The intimate gestures depict childhood, young adulthood, and older age. Julrud’s linear qualities and personal approach are remarkably sophisticated.

“The subway seemed to be a true socialist environment,” artist Jen Scheuer offered when explaining her unique caryatid creations which incorporate images of New Yorkers she encountered on the subway.  A caryatid is a sculpted female figure used as an architectural support, often in place of a column. Scheuer’s subway travelers are caught in a moment of time, trapped, yet also fixated on the outside world.

Her work 34th Street is a significant achievement of photorealistic detail and sensuousness. The subject is a young New York shopper, bags in hand, her sunglasses reading as haute couture.  Her stance exudes self-assuredness. The fabric of the dress brings to mind R. Herrick’s lines: “Whenas in silks my Julia goes / then, then (methinks) how sweetly flows / the liquefaction of her clothes.” This near life-size work is a tour de force of technical achievement and poetic vision.

Add the work of 13 additional MSUM students and this exhibition is certain to be an art educational experience in itself. Mentor/teacher Volk will also be exhibiting in response to summer research in New York. He will be surprising his students with what he is calling a “study.”

Volk is currently exploring a traditional technique called grisaille, which was used by artists such as Peter Paul Rubens and others that will inform his future work. This technique involves layering paint to create a particular kind of light. Volk is excited about incorporating this “inner light” into new paintings, a development to watch from this printmaker par excellence and aesthetic-savvy painter.

Volk has been asked to return to New York in the fall as a visiting critic, along with art greats like Eric Fischl, at the New York Academy of Art. This time he will be leaving his students behind as he pursues this prestigious opportunity. But not to worry, the students are in good hands with some of the other professors they credit with “incredible” fine-art instruction, among them Sherry Short, Carl Oltvedt, Jim Park and others. Besides, Volk will only be absent from MSUM for a couple of weeks.

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New York Experience Exhibition
MSUM Student Work
MSUM Art Gallery
Roland Dille Center for the Arts
August 10-27
Closing Reception August 27: 4:00-6:00 pm