The artwork by Katharine Cholnoky '10 now on display in the Senior Majors Exhibition in the Hopkins Center's Jaffe-Friede and Strauss Galleries suggests that Cholnoky will never run out of materials from which to draw inspiration. Her artwork in the exhibition, for example, forgoes a standard canvas, instead using found objects, such as a crushed cardboard envelope or a broken wooden door.
Cholnoky is one of 20 students whose work is featured in the exhibition, which, in addition to occupying the two galleries, also spans the length of the Upper Jewett Corridor leading to Spaulding Auditorium. This exhibition displays the theses and culminating experiences of senior studio art majors, who have been working on their respective projects since last Winter, according to Cholnoky.
"It's kind of a circus, but it also reflects the fact that we had 23 majors at the beginning of Winter term," Cholnoky said in an interview with The Dartmouth. "We're a huge class with a bunch of talented people in it, so it's been fun."
Cholnoky's drawings consist mainly of six collograph pieces prints done on a rigid substrate such as board, rather than paper or canvas four of which are hanging in the Jaffe-Friede Gallery and two in the Upper Jewett Corridor. These prints focus on color and repetition, as they are all themed either red or black and white, each with its own group of characters or faces that dominate the piece. The print titled "Why Those Are Genuine Tooth Heads" features alligator-like animals with eyeballs poking out from the top of their heads. These fictional "tooth heads" seem to be fighting a larger bird-like animal. The general theme of the piece seems to depict bloodshed, based on the red streaks of oil-based etching ink featured in the piece that evoke battle images.
"It's about seeing the world through a different lens and training your brain to pick up on shapes that just don't exist," Cholnoky said. "And that's really interesting to me because, how would I make a tooth head if I've never seen one? Thinking about it logically, it's just not really possible, but once you start training your eye to pick up on things like that, you walk around campus and see shapes or images that remind you of your own artwork and you start just looking at everything through a different lense, which is really helpful."
Cholnoky's work draws images not only from her life on campus, but also from her childhood. According to Cholnoky, the inspiration for one piece which features a red Tyrannosaurus rex came from a plastic dinosaur she used to carry around as a child. The background of the print consists of concentric squares, with the material alternating between masking tape and the metal sheet underneath. The work is finished off with a gloss gel coating, giving it a sharp look.
It is one of a series of pieces featuring Tyrannosaurus rexes, reflecting Cholnoky's interest in the repetition of an image. Cholnoky explained that drawing the dinosaur repeatedly helped her understand her childhood connection to the plastic reptile.
"There's an interesting process that happens with readdressing something, whether that's through making the same line 150 times or making the same drawing of a T. rex 40 times, that leads to more of an understanding," Cholnoky remarked.
Cholnoky's largest piece, "This Way No This Way No This Way," depicts a jumble of giant, white arrows of various sizes bending and pointing in different directions. The simplicity of the arrows, the white Krink marker used to draw them and the wooden door background recall the Cheshire Cat's confusing directions in "Alice in Wonderland." "This Way No This Way No This Way" represents Cholnoky's creativity and range in terms of both material and scale.
"It's pretty different than anything I've done up until that point just because of how restrained I was with the smaller collograph pieces," Cholnoky said of the piece. "They're sort of over the top and bizarre, and this door was a total reaction to the wood grain. So in that sense there is an intuitive reaction to material that's happening, and that's drawn me a lot to pattern and repetition."
The door in "This Way No This Way No This Way," as well as the envelope that serves as a canvas for "Saturday Morning In My Birthday Suit" also reflect Cholnoky's interest in urban refuse and what makes an object unusable. Cholnoky said she explored Vermont and New Hampshire, ultimately finding many of her treasures in dumps and at Vermont Salvage, a store for architectural salvage located in White River Junction, Vt.
Cholnoky will continue working with the studio art department next year as an intern, along with three other current seniors: Max Heiges '10, Julia Zak '10 and Jenny Qian '10. According to Cholnoky, she is very content to stay with the department for another year.
"The department is just incredible," she explained. "The relationships you form with professors are like nothing you'd ever imagine."
