For third year, Master of Fine Art student Marissa Angel, a creek in her hometown in North Carolina and a bay in Canada serve as personal inspiration for her latest exhibit.
“Remembrance: Drink while the water is clean,” will be on display at the Tipton Gallery starting on Nov. 30 through Jan. 22.
The opening reception is Dec. 4 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Angel is not sure how many pieces will be in the final exhibit. She has five paintings, a large print, and a functioning sculpture and paint piece prepared for the exhibit.
(Photograph by Jordan Hensley/East Tennessean)
Angel’s M.F.A. concentration is in printmaking but she considers herself a “mixed media artist.”
“I do a lot of combining other things with printmaking. I’m really open to the idea of any medium of art,” Angel said.
One of the mediums used for Angel’s large print piece came from a creek behind her childhood home.
“I’m actually painting with a clay pigment that I harvested from the creek on my parent’s property that I grew up on which is also the landscape that is being depicted,” she said.
The large print piece alternates between print and paint across multiple 4 by 6 panels.
“It is kind of a commentary on my personal memories of that place and how it is somewhat in danger like most of North Carolina’s waterways are,” Angel said.
The inspiration behind the pieces in the exhibit are personal to Angel and her family.
“The three bodies of water I am depicting are ones that are important to me personally and also to my family,” Angel said. “It’s this idea of a shared memory.”
Angel’s grandfather is originally from Canada where he spent every summer visiting the Belleisle Bay near the St. John River. He had a deep connection to the bay and shared that with Angel’s mother and uncle.
Although Angel has only visited the Belleisle Bay twice, she said she feels more connected because her family is connected to the area.
“The idea of collective and shared memories forming your own personal attachment and kind of that personal connection to water versus our scientific necessity for water,” she said.
Conservation and preserving the environment is the main focus for all of Angel’s work.
Angel created a print piece on a coal ash spill in North Carolina using actual coal ash as a medium. That piece was in a juried show at the Coburn Gallery in Ashland, Ohio, where Angel was awarded an Honorable Mention.
For more information on Remembrance: “Drink while the water is clean”, contact the Slocumb Galleries director, Karlota Contreras Koterbay at 483-3179.
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified Marissa Angel as Melissa Angel. The East Tennessean regrets this error.
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