Serena Swanson: Glitter is Not Allowed
May 3 – June 4, 2022
Reception Thursday, May 19, 5:30-7:30
Art for Lunch (Artist Talk) Thursday, May 5, 2022, 12 Noon
The Corrine Woodman Gallery I presents the artwork of Serena Swanson, winner of the 2021 The Arts Center Student Award. Swanson is a recent arts major graduate from Oregon State University, and pursues a light hearted, childlike attitude towards art making in this exhibit.
No Glitter Allowed centers around play, it represents fun, experimentation and letting-go.
Swanson wanted to let go from the pressures of graduating during a pandemic, and from “work that numbs and makes creating into a task, rather than an activity.”
In earlier work Swanson graviated to art as escapism, as a coping mechanism, but now she moved to a childlike approach, comforting herself as children do, by having fun, making up stories for the characters while drawing them, making messes, and..yes using glitter.
Swanson created each piece as if it is a page in a journal, in essence an incoherent collection of journal entries.
“I am discovering that I enjoy letting my work be as incoherent as the thoughts and feelings they’re based off of; actively letting go of needing to make sense of them.”
Serena Sawnson
The Arts Center’s Public Programs are supported by Oregon Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, City of Corvallis Parks & Recreation, and through member, donor and The Arts Center Endowment Fund support.