Graduate students from Kansas State University brought a new prospective of art to downtown Baldwin City Oct. 5.
The students, including Baker alumna Machiko Yamazaki, displayed their recent work at Art Affair, Baker’s student operated gallery, kicking off a five-week display of the artist’s work.
Program Director of Art Inge Balch said the showing deemed “Multiplicity” has no theme.
“These are individual pieces by individual artists,” she said.
The artists, Bo David Bedilion, Susan Nam, Amanda Small, David Witherow and Yamazaki, opened the show by presenting their clay creations for the appreciation of the Baldwin community.
Lesley Gillaspie, student director of Art Affair, said it’s nice to have something different being displayed.
“We don’t normally have ceramics,” she said. “It is usually more two-dimensional work.”
Gillaspie said the artists had to create their displays for each of their own styles. The idea, theme and style behind each artist’s series differed greatly between artists, and the styles ranged from functional pieces to more abstract representations of amoeba and cells.
One of Yamazaki’s pieces on display includes her “Zero” series. She said the three-piece series presents her view of the number as a collection of three-dimensional objects.
Small said pictures of one-celled organisms and microscopic views of pollen inspired her piece. She said she saw them as beautiful, even though other people might see them as strange.
“I’m really interested in the idea of dispersal,” she said.
While both Yamazaki’s and Small’s pieces are abstract, Witherow’s pieces are more concrete.
“I enjoy functional pieces,” Witherow said.
Witherow said he wanted to beautify a process and encourage people to possibly live greener, while other artists simply want to express their visions of beauty.
Senior Tyler Scifers said he has been to many of Art Affair’s openings and that this was one of the better openings.
“It looks pretty interpretive,” he said. “I like getting the chance to see something new. Everything is well coordinated. They all compliment each other very well.”
The opening also attracted some new viewers.
“I didn’t really know it was here,” freshman Will Duncan said. “It’s nice that artists can come down here and do this.”
Art Affair is free and aims to attract as many people as possible. If a visitor likes a piece of art on display, they have the opportunity to purchase it.
“Multiplicity” will run through Nov. 11.