The Expressionists Club will be presenting “re:Cultivate,” a photo exhibit that captures the growth and process of mud art from the club’s “Cultivate” project, created in spring 2009. The exhibit premieres for the first time outside of the library, and will be shown throughout the quarter at the University Union (UU) Gallery.
The Expressionists Club is an art organization on campus whose members promote creativity and originality in the form of painting, drawing, sketching and spray painting. “Cultivate” is a presentation that employs the use of sustainable stencils; the stencil pattern was created by the members of the club using plastic and reusable material.
In fact, the flower stencils were first shown on the grounds of the library atrium. Using clay slip, a mixture of clay and water to form a decorative coating liquid, the club applied all of the different patterns around the ground surface. At the same time, photographs were taken showing the growth, process of making and the details of the artwork.
“We started ‘Cultivate’ at the library. We essentially painted on the ground,” said Cal Poly architecture junior and president of the Expressionists Club, Renee Jain. “We had two people taking photos, documenting the entire process of us actually creating the artwork. So this project going in the UU Gallery is the photographs from that. It’s this response through photography, a response to ‘Cultivate.’”
The response to the art mural at the UU Gallery was stimulated by Cal Poly’s commitment to sustainability.
“We were inspired by agriculture, nature and all the things that go on in Cal Poly, so we decided to do a sustainable exhibit,” Jain said. “We did this project revolving around flowers, so everyone in our club drew some sort of flower and created a stencil out of that — a flower, leaf — things like that.”
The photographs represent the work the club put together and they are ready to present it to the public in the UU Gallery.
“‘Cultivate’ was the first project that changed from the time it was first put up to the time it was taken down,” said materials engineering junior and vice president of the Expressionists Club, Buddy Bump. “In other words, it was our first ‘growing’ project. All of our other projects remained the same from their installation. Furthermore, the project is an illustration of how art should be valued and shared. The Expressionists Club hopes to promote art and impart its significance to the community.”
“(The club) is an interdisciplinary club (for those) who want to do art and who want to appreciate art. It is more about bringing art into campus and into San Luis Obispo,” Jain said.
But it appears as though art is already a popular subject around campus.
“I heard about ‘re:Cultivate’ and wanted to see it for myself,” said communication studies junior, Ruben Custodio. “I like the organic concept to it and how it was drawn (on the ground) at the library. It’s a different form of art, not something just drawn on a piece of paper.”
Students were able to witness the process of putting the organic graffiti on the library atrium ground through black and white photos, as well as the final transformation.
The UU Gallery, located in the Epicenter, is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. during fall quarter.