The opening reception for ‘Our Bodies Our Selves,’ the new art exhibit displayed in Martha Gault Art Gallery, was held in the gallery on Tuesday night. The reception, as well as the exhibit itself, was sponsored and funded by the Gender Studies program and the President’s Commission on Women; the catering featured finger foods, such as chocolate-covered strawberries and a vegetable tray, as well as some beverages. In attendance were SRU students, faculty and one of the artists herself, Colleen Garibaldi.
Garibaldi, who hails from the Washington D.C. area, said she was deeply honored to have her pieces displayed with the other artists featured.
“The work here is absolutely amazing,” Garibaldi said. “I love to see how different people grapple with and express similar issues and subjects.”
Garibaldi’s art typically maintains a focus on creating form without using black, and recently, her work has focused around objectification and how prominent it is in society and culture; the pieces displayed in ‘Our Bodies Our Selves’ are no different.
“I have a tendency to try to do reductions of the human form,” Garibaldi said of her style. “I express the human figure in such an abstract way that it’s almost unrecognizable.”
Garibaldi was asked to contribute her work by Theresa Antonellis, Director of the Martha Gault Art Gallery, early in 2016 when Antonellis was in Washington D.C. for a conference.
Junior public health major Kali Kerstetter said she really enjoyed the exhibit, and had been interested in viewing the work since she first heard about the collection.
“I love the artists’ views of the female form,” Kerstetter said. “The rawness and emotion in some of the pieces are absolutely breathtaking.”
‘Our Bodies Our Selves’ will be hanging in Martha Gault Art Gallery until Sept. 29.
