A recent exhibit by Carroll Community College art faculty gave students the chance to see their teachers in a new and different light. The exhibiting faculty members are not only excellent instructors, but practicing artists as well.

Faculty Works: Looking In featured the original works of 11 faculty members at Carroll, on display at the Gallery in the Scott Center from February 18 to March 30, 2007.

Works included paintings, sculptures, photographs, and mixed-media collage.

Featured artists included Margaret Dowell, Randi Reiss-McCormack, Gail Elwell, Charles Comer, Gard Jones, Brian Gunning, Howard Riopelle, Christina Collins-Smith, Scott Gore, Susan Williamson, and Maggie Ball.

“This show honored all of our dedicated instructors who somehow find time in their busy lives to create and spend solitary time with their art. When all the stars align, along with time, opportunity and inspiration, we make art,” said Maggie Ball, associate professor and director of art at the college. “I wanted to create a forum, a venue for all of us to showcase the stuff that makes us tick.”

Ball explained that by practicing their art, faculty remain fresh, creative, and dynamic. Art faculty members agree. “For me, the art of making and the art of teaching are interconnected,” said Elwell. “The teaching informs the work and the work informs the teaching.”

For other faculty members, practicing their art allows them to expand beyond “cerebral” appreciation of art. “I give viewers an opportunity to enjoy a fun interaction of colors on a scale which one typically doesn’t associate with watercolor,” said Gunning.

Comer said his exhibit pieces showed that the creative process is not always relegated to the immediate creation of a work. The planning that goes into a piece of art involves many aesthetic choices, as well, Comer said.

“It is important for art faculty to be practicing artists,” said Gore. “This validates what we teach. We need to show students that we can produce pieces of art, not just theorize about how they are created. Our exhibit showed students that we, too, are professional artists, not just professional educators of the arts.”

Gail Elwell's "The Hand of Time" collage, 2006.

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