Journeys long and short are documented in “Sabbatical,” an exhibit at Millersville University’s Sykes Gallery featuring the works of four faculty members: Robert Andriulli, Shauna Frischkorn, Brant Schuller and Debbie Sigel. (The photos, including the one at left showing works by Andriulli with a work by Schuller on the back wall, were taken at the opening of the exhibit Jan. 28, during which I spoke briefly with the artists.)
Brant Schuller traveled to Japan to study moku hanga, woodblock printing that uses water-based ink. His imagery is based on multiple overlaid views traced from windows, some still, some in moving vehicles (for example, “Traced Travel - I84/Blue” and “Traced Travel - I84/Orange,” shown in photo at right). He also worked with printmakers in Alberta, Canada, using an ink that does not dry until exposed to ultraviolet light. Because the ink remains liquid during printing, it can’t clog the screen, making it possible to produce ultra-fine, high-resolution prints. Some of Schuller’s prints, with their dense darks and clean lines, resemble ink drawings; others resemble lithographs.
Debbie Sigel’s Egyptian paste and metal flowers (shown at left) reflect time spent in Taiwan, where the national plum-flower symbol is everywhere, often in the pastel colors she uses in her medium, a type of self-glazing clay. The candy-colored, six-pointed flowers convey “a sense of play,” as Sigel put it, while their rigorous wall arrangement suggests a certain discipline.
High school productions have inspired Shauna Frischkorn to launch a series of large-format photographs featuring stage sets and empty auditoriums, shot before the performances. The sets “have kind of a handmade look, but with a level of sophistication … a surreal kind of quality,” commented Frischkorn. Only two are in the show; this is the first step of what Frischkorn suggested will be a long-term project.
From his memories of growing up in New Jersey near New York City, Robert Andriulli creates gritty, yet surrealistic, cityscape in black-and-white monoprints — nothing more than scrapes, rubouts and blots into a painted surface –and smoky, dark-toned oil paintings. In one, a colossal stadium looms over tiny houses and streets; in another, houses and an elevated roadway seem to merge into a giant highway on-ramp. Another ordinary neighborhood comes suddenly to an end at the edge of a fantastic waterfall plunging over rocks in the foreground. In these Piranesi-meets-Paterson visions, Andriulli explores ideas of thresholds, of the merging of one environment into another.
The exhibit continues through March 6. Hours are Mon.-Fri. 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; also Mon. 5:30-8:30 p.m. Sykes Gallery is located in Breidenstine Hall at Millersville University.
