The new year brings not only new tidings and opportunities, but also a variety of new art pieces to the Drake Gallery. This year’s Visual Arts Faculty Exhibition features work from upper school art teachers Spencer Legendre-Gillespie, Kate Clark, and Daryn Lowman, along with lower school art teachers Anna Ruhland, Dede Hartmann, and middle school art teacher Jessica Jones.

A mix of ceramics, photography, canvaswork, and stitched collages can be found on display in the Drake; the exhibit paints its own picture of the diversity of mediums that the visual arts faculty have experience in. Each piece stands out in its own right, united in their attention to detail and the fact that they are all obvious works of masters.

Legendre-Gillespie’s featured works include restitched textile design and painted pieces. The paintings are particularly captivating; pieces 53-57 depict brightly colored globules with eyes and mouths dotting the frames, expressively conveying freeze-frame pictures. Abstract in shape yet tangible in the conflicts and emotions they render, these pieces touch on relationships and dynamics that are simple, yet hard to define– dynamics that are best not explained in words.

Lowman’s work, all ceramics, have a naturalistic element to them. Many pieces are wood-fired, which often results in natural ash glaze, earthier tones, and varied textures and natural patterns. Each work is uniquely different, drawing from a different firing process that contributes to fascinating inconsistencies in color and surface texture. Lowman’s compositions are utterly captivating.

Another exceptional collection is Hartmann’s acrylic paintings. A set of four features brightly colored flowers against a dark background, all beautifully contrasting images. At first glance, many of Hartmann’s pieces appear to be photographs. The smoothness of the canvas and realistic style are almost unidentifiable as paintings. It is only when one approaches them up close that the brush strokes are visible. The attention to detail given, especially with subjects as delicate as flowers, meshes well with Hartmann’s use of bright colors, and many of these renderings seem like surrealist dreams once identified as paintings.

Kick off the new year with an exceptionally inspiring collection of faculty work in the Drake Gallery.