Story and Photos by Ethan Pickering | Lifestyles Editor
Todd Art Gallery hosts oil painting exhibit, “Summer Noise” from the University of Tennessee Knoxville School of Art.
The exhibit was created exclusively by professor of painting at UTK, Jered Sprecher. It will be in the Todd Art Gallery at Todd Hall from August 23, to September 11, 2021.
Sprecher visited Middle Tennessee State University on September 2 to speak with students and professors from the Department of Art and Design.
Sprecher’s paintings are all eclectic oil paintings with a variety of color and feelings attached to each image.
“My work compresses time into the surface of painting, that old technology. Increasingly flora, fauna, and natural phenomena hold my attention as I wrestle with this imagery that we daily experience through our technology,” Sprecher said in his artist statement for the gallery, “Birds, plants, flowers, stones, and fires dissolve into the light of the screen, the digital lens, and the glowing tablet.”
His art seems to encompass what natural elements of life have been lost because of virtual imaging that is so common in todays digital landscape. The underlying theme of summer exists in the palm patterns and light colors that overtake the bulk of the exhibit.
Sprecher’s paintings employs bright colors very well, giving off a very summery tone.
He illustrates the contrast between the fast paced and digital life we live versus all the beauty of the natural world, and how it seemingly fades into the background.
MTSU Department of Art and Design hosts a variety of exhibits each year, not only in the Todd Hall Gallery, but also in many art galleries on and off MTSU’s campus.
Eric Snyder, the gallery coordinator for the Department of Art and Design, said that the Todd Gallery has a revolving door of many different art styles.
Snyder explains the process in which the Department of Art rotates out their exhibits.
“We have an area calendar, and what that does is serve as a guide for us to be sure that each area in the department, whether it’s painting, or graphic design, or sculpting… everybody gets designation within the area calendar,” said Snyder.
The calendar ensures that every department gets content that is related to their particular field of art. This is a way to further expose MTSU art and design students to work that suits their particular field.
