Valley College’s art exhibit became a river on fire

“We Became the River on Fire” was introduced to the masses on Sept. 7 and will continue until early December.

By Kevin Zuniga, Staff Writer

“Morning Ware with Eye-Shaped Base” by Anna Mayer and “And Then, The Morning” by Katy Cowen can be seen at Valley College’s art gallery called “We Became the River on Fire.” (Daniel Purdo | Valley Star

Valley College welcomes “We Became the River on Fire, ” its first in-person art exhibit in over two years.

Organized by art professor Jason Kunke, “We Became the River on Fire” is the first art show since the COVID-19 pandemic halted in-person art events.The exhibit will run between Sept. 7 to Dec. 8 at the school's art building. At the opening reception, Kunke displayed professional works by artists Tanya Brodsky, Katy Cowan and Anna Mayer. Students organized their art into a proper theme for the exhibit.

“The idea of the show, the loose theme, was on one hand, climate, climate catastrophe and how we understand ourselves through objects we make using the world around us as art pieces,” said Jason Kunke, event organizer.

According to Kunke, the title of the exhibit was inspired by songs called “Rage of Plastics” by the U.S. Girls and “We Became Snakes” by Saccharine Trust. “We Became Snakes” inspired the formulation of the title in the format of “We Become X” where X would be some sort of object but the song itself didn’t match the general concepts Kunke was thinking about.

“Was it the river on fire that made us what we became? Was it the cup we drank from, or what it contained?” sang by Eghan Remy from U.S. Girls.

Kunke hunted through song lyrics and came across the U.S. Girls song “Rage of the Plastic” where it resonated with the ideas he had for the exhibit. The song is about a woman who becomes infertile after years of working at a chemical plant, with the chemicals polluting and contaminating her. The girl was used and contaminated by the world around her and the concept worked into the theme that Kunke is trying to set in his exhibit.

“The exhibit is kind of luxurious because Jason installed all of it and it’s great to be part of someone’s vision,” said Brodsky, Ukrainian-born artist and educator. “We’ve known each other for a long time so I trusted him to install and display my piece. It was a nice surprise, but you give up control on the way your art is displayed.”

As students, art enthusiasts, and teachers alike walked through the exhibit, some pieces drew more attention than others. “We Are Not Only Everything (Left and Right Feet)” by Mayer was bronze statues of a pair of feet. Each of the toes represented a different person Mayer knew from her time in Houston Texas. Even though her statues were rather small, since they were displayed in the middle of the room, it caught a lot of people’s eyes.

“The feet is my favorite part of the exhibit, it’s just so unsettling.” said second-year Valley student Josh Baker.

Tanya Brodsky’s “Airflows I” is a blue and white cyanotype on paper that was framed at the left side of the exhibit. It depicted the airflow of an object. Due to the art piece being simple and small against a big white wall, it wasn’t grabbing a lot of people’s attention as they walked through it.

The gallery will be available to view Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. until Dec. 8.