M.A. Art Education Capstone Exhibition
September 28-October 21, 2022
Reception: October 21, 6-8 p.m.
Featuring: Allison Ellis and Taylor Styles
The A.D. Gallery is pleased to present Listening With Your Eyes, an exhibition of painting and prints by Allison Ellis and Taylor Styles. These students will be graduating in December 2022 from the MA Art Education program.
Allison Ellis, an alumnus of UNC-Pembroke, is an elementary art teacher in Columbus County. She teaches at Acme-Delco Elementary School and Hallsboro-Artesia Elementary School. Creating art has always been a passion of Allison Ellis because of how therapeutic it feels for her to express herself. Her method of choice is printmaking, particularly relief printing, because she enjoys every step in this art-making process. However, for her, the art-making process involves more than just printmaking. It consists of using art inquiry from resources, inspirations, prior knowledge, and research to build her creativity. Symbolism, surrealism, and formal elements play a significant role in how she expresses herself through non-typical self-portraits. Although these self-portraits are windows into her life story, you can make your own interpretations.
Taylor Styles is an alumnus of Berea College. She currently teaches high school art with Charlotte and Mecklenburg Schools in NC. After the completion of her MA, Styles hopes to continue her practice as an art educator and develop her career as an established artist. Since childhood, Taylor Styles has struggled with reading, writing, and the traditional academic approach to education. Since she can remember, she has always found comfort in the creation process as it did not involve the use of words or writing. To her, art was the best way to share her ideas and stories with those around her while avoiding the daunting process of written communication. She has been diagnosed with dyslexia, ADHD, and generalized anxiety disorder at various time periods in her life. These learning differences (LDs) have created an emotional cycle of feelings that are rapid to change. Through reflection, research, and inspirations found in the artist community, Styles deeply explores the emotions that she or others with LDs may experience. While all humans may experience these same emotions, Styles answers a personal question of just how much these emotions are intensified due to a combination of environmental factors and their influences on those with learning disabilities/differences. In her work, Styles uses colors, silhouettes, and symbols to capture the emotions and feelings of anger, shame, persistence, rebellion, depression, and anxiety. Through her work, she hopes to bring awareness to what it is like to live emotionally with LDs. The role of LDs can have a powerful effect on emotional health and self-confidence.