On Thursday, Syracuse University Art Galleries will highlight the works of the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ Master of Fine Arts thesis candidates in “PLANS ARE CANCELLED,” an art exhibition curated by Scott Vincent Campbell.

“PLANS ARE CANCELLED,” spread out among three exhibition spaces, includes the works of 24 artists and explores reexamination and shaping of reality. The exhibition venues, as part of the Coalition of Museum and Arts Centers, include SUArt Galleries, Point of Contact Gallery and Community Folk Art Center.

The title of the show reflects that although there are negative connotations behind canceled plans, the opportunity for new plans to better fit people’s current situations can be celebrated.

Rebecca Forstater, a studio art graduate student, will be showcasing her work in this exhibit. She said this show should be seen as an opportunity for the community to experience, rather than just the artists.

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“This is call for an opportunity to envision new futures,” she said, in an email, “and to examine and rethink the world and society we inhabit.”

E. Garrett Bryant, another artist whose work will be displayed in “PLANS ARE CANCELLED,” is not only proud of his own work, but also the work of his fellow artists.

Many artists in this senior class, he said — including up-and-coming ones — are rejecting material culture and elitist art-world traditions and transitioning to alternative forms of art. He added that art has something for everyone.

Bryant discussed the political and cultural aspects of art, saying students take pride in elaborating their style as artists is vital for them to have the same impact elite artists do.

“The group of students currently graduating are making quality artwork that can be shown anywhere,” he said, in an email. “Our work speaks to contemporary disaffection, internet culture, identity politics, and the American Dream.”

Along with “PLANS ARE CANCELLED,” two additional galleries will open this weekend: “Sound and Color,” focused on musically-inspired student works, and “Winslow Homer: Women and American Society During the Civil War Era,” which features a combination of student research, curatorial writing, original paintings and paintings by 11 different artists, said Associate Director Emily Dittman, in an email.

“Winslow Homer” is named after an artist who engraved wood and depicted women throughout the Civil War era. SU professor Wayne Franits, whose expertise is in art and music histories, said “Winslow Homer” represents the roles women held during the Civil War era.

“The exhibition exemplifies women’s roles by literally illustrating them in a number of the prints on display,” he said. “(The roles) range from making parts of uniforms, to caring for the wounded, to the production of armaments to the staffing of so-called sanitary fairs.”

Franits studied some of Homer’s prints with students from his senior seminar. Dittman said the research and curatorial writing from their projects will be featured throughout the exhibition, which is supported by the department of art and music histories in the College of Arts and Sciences.

The professor said he, personally, doesn’t value one aspect of the exhibit of women’s history over another. Franits, who mainly focuses on 17th century Europe in his research, said he enjoys learning about the American Civil War and exposing students to important art works, because they become so engaged in what they’re observing.

On another level, the mission of the exhibit is to demonstrate the various roles that women were engaged in during the Civil War and to give an idea of America’s social, cultural and political climate during the 1860s and 1870s, Franits said. He added that it provides a satisfying opportunity to showcase Homer’s work.

Published on April 3, 2019 at 11:37 pm

gfpagano@syr.edu