Although the two artists differ in style, both present colorful and provocative displays to unsuspecting students picking up mail or standing in line at the grill.
Kohnke's creation, entitled "The Nights Are Long," is an installation featuring a mouth-like shape with malicious-looking teeth, meticulously balanced and constructed with the display's tongues dangling from wires.
The installation strives to capture the tension between the visceral and the mechanical, Kohnke said, adding that the exhibit utilizes 100 pairs of old dentures collected from flea markets.
"I work with found objects' because they have a history," Kohnke said.
Kohnke said her inspiration usually strikes during moments of insomnia.
"When I was working with the dentures, I noticed a lot were worn from teeth-grinding," she said. "I wondered what people were fretting about, and I was also thinking of students waiting in line in front of it."
Kohnke constructed her piece with the intention of beckoning students from afar and then forcing them to slow down to take it in.
"We walk down that hallway so many times, I wanted it to make people stop," Kohnke said. "Also, I'm a quiet person I like having mischief in my work."
Reactions have been varied, but Kohnke remains unfazed by those who find her work macabre or disturbing.
"I'm not trying to upset people I'm just trying to get them to look at it differently," she said. "Any time a viewer looks at something, they're bringing their own history and associations."
She said that she is pleased that her work garners such a variety of reactions.
Ferrera's work is vastly different than Kohnke's and yet also attracts a range of reactions. His paintings are a series of abstract and colorful tableaus that draw inspiration from topics ranging from Native America symbolism to scientific phenomena. His audience often does not understand his work, and he is pleasantly surprised whenever a viewer achieves a level of understanding, Ferrera said. He is never disappointed, however, if this fails to occur.
"I'm always glad when someone does connect with it, but I don't have many expectations," he said.
Ferrera's primary artistic focus is on nature and natural processes like electricity.
"I'm interested in nature, not so much the appearance, but the undercurrents and what makes it all tick," Ferrera said. "The interconnectedness of everything I try to get that in my art the feeling that it's all in flux."
He prefers abstraction to realism because he focuses on concept and intuition rather than physicality and surface appearance, he said. Early in his career, Ferrera dabbled with a more realistic style, but he said he finds that abstract work allows him more freedom to explore.
"I try not to start a painting with a preconceived idea of what I want it to look like," he said. "I'll make a mark and then respond to it."
The end result is often a surprise, even to Ferrera, but he enjoys the possibility of discovery, he said.
"A lot of times, it just doesn't work out that well, but as an artist you have to be willing to accept both failure with success," Ferrera said.
Ferrera and Kohnke have both noticed that when they teach studio art classes at Dartmouth, it can be difficult for their students to embrace failure.
"A lot of them feel they need to have the whole painting in their mind before they start," Fererra said. "The hardest part is to get them to make an intuitive leap and stop fearing the unknown."
Ferrera added that if students do not fail, then they have not been taking enough chances. Students often wish for more direction and are taken aback by the lack of structure and methodology in the classroom, according to Kohnke, who said she tries to dictate as little as possible because she wants students to become more attuned to their own sensibilities.
"For some of them, their academic careers are so structured," Kohnke said. "I try to get them to de-structure themselves."
Kohnke and Ferrera encourage students to follow their own intuition and assert their individuality.
"Most students are used to following instructions," Ferrera said. "That's how they got here."
However, art does not come with a set of instructions, and students must learn to be less structured in their artistic pursuits, according to Ferrera.
"The truth is, a lot of students won't go on to be artists," he said. "As long as they can become more creative problem solvers, that's really the goal."
Fererra and Kohnke's works will remain in the Upper Jewett Corridor through Mar. 5.
