In the Fine Arts program at Villa Maria College, the capstone experience for seniors is a gallery exhibition that involves the most intensive ideation, planning, and realizing of a body of work of the student’s academic career. The resulting exhibition shows its labor not only through the work on display but also through its contextualization in text and in the physical space of the gallery. Making the artwork is one thing, but exhibiting it requires numerous other logistical tasks. In past years, students worked together to negotiate how space in the gallery is distributed among them.
This year is unique in that we have a single outgoing Fine Arts student. Instead of organizing a group exhibition, they were tasked with creating an entire solo exhibition of their own work. We are proud of the way in which Sonia Campanella took on the task with her exhibition, Amorphous, and how the exhibition represents both her work and the efforts of our department.
Adam Weekley
Assistant Professor of Fine Arts
Kyle Butler
Assistant Professor of Fine Arts
Sonia Campanella
The inspiration for my thesis came from specific elements on a microscopic level. The result was paintings influenced by the themes of anatomy and nature viewed from under a microscope. Studies of micro-organisms lead me to the details displayed in the show. The abstract portrayal of muscles, arteries, and veins were the result of anatomic studies. There was also inspiration implemented from micro-organisms including amoebas and cells.
The specific influences I took from my studies involved shape, structure, surface texture, sheen, and color cultivation. The shapes maintained an organic theme throughout the exploration. Organic shape dominated much of the overall message of the show. So much, that the name Amorphous arose from the lack of form and definition. This lack of shape also dictated the improvisational nature of the gestural paintings.
