Roundup of bright ideas at undergrad art show

By Robert Winters

Cody Lee Stephenson, Hail Mary
Photo by Marc Losier

Marie-Eve Martel, Fossilized
Photo by Robert Winters

Zane Turner, Mark Ainslie
Photo by Marc Losier

Selected pieces by undergraduate students in the Faculty of Fine Arts are on view at the Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery, and it’s intriguing.

Cody Lee Stephenson made a football out of 9-mm shell casings, screws and polyester resin, calling it Hail Mary.

Marie-Eve Martel, a third-year Painting and Drawing student presented Fossilized, for which she used natural clay and acrylic paint on canvas.

The painting is focused on mushrooms, which fascinate her. “The mushroom grows at lightning speed, driven by a spontaneous force.” She also sees in the mushroom a frailness and “fleshiness” that reminds her of human beings and how ephemeral their lives are.

Through her work, Martel wants to make viewers more aware of the strong links between humans and the natural world, and help people realize “how dependent we are on nature and how respectful we should be.”

Zane Turner describes his work as "painterly realism." This one (at right) is called Mark Ainslie, 2005.

The exhibition continues until May 14. The gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday, 12 to 6 p.m.