By ZERINA BAJRAMOVIC
STAFF WRITER
Painter and installation artist, Cristi Rinklin spoke about her artwork, career and process and even offered UNH seniors some advice on what to do with their careers once they receive their diplomas this spring.
“Give yourself some openness and freedom. No matter where you go or what you do, stay involved with the community,” Rinklin said.
The gallery talk was held on Wednesday afternoon in UNH’s Museum of Art. After her talk, Rinklin allowed students to participate in a question and answer session.
This opportunity gave many young students the chance to ask about Rinklin’s inspirations, process, and style as they jotted down notes.
Rinklin stood in front of her “Specter” 1, 2, and 3 paintings as she explained her choices and desires in regards to her career as an artist.
She spoke passionately about the 60” x 40” oil and acrylic painting on aluminum behind her and went into detail about her search for images and the process from start to finish.
Rinklin’s work is a part of the Groundswell exhibit, which focuses heavily on landscape and mapping. According to the description, the paintings mimic physical reality to abstract expressions of places and moments.
Each of Rinklin’s paintings can exist by itself as one or as a cluster. Rinklin said that this allows her work to be “malleable” and offers something different to the audience each time it is moved, while still providing the overall concept of landscapes through isolation and detachment.
“Groundswell” also contains the work of two additional artists, Sophia Ainslie and Nathan Miner.
Ainslie and Rinklin both heavily rely on technology in their artwork.
Rinklin describes technology in the art world as “ubiquitous” because of how heavily it is being used in contemporary artworks, and how it has changed the way we see life, including pieces of artworks.
Natural Wonder is also a part of the two group exhibitions at the museum, both of which have been open since January and will continue be open to the public through April 3.
The Natural Wonder exhibit featured the artwork of Christina Pitsch, Shelley Reed, Rick Shaefer, and Randal Thurston.
According to the museum’s press release, “In Natural Wonder the dramas and quiet splendors of the natural world are amplified through meticulously wrought larger-than-life pairings and drawings and in the proliferation of hand-sculpted decorative ornamentation.”
“We’ve had great positive feedback. Classes have come to visit and look or write about the work on various occasions,” Education and Communications Manager Sara B. Zela said.
These classes included first year English courses, philosophy, sociology, and of course, classes in the art department.
“I’ve been long interested in the idea of cycles of creation and destruction,” Rinklin said to the group of students and faculty.
“What comes in our absence? What’s left behind? What’s the residue?” are some of the questions that have inspired Rinklin’s own work.
Rinklin describes the subjects of her work as “delightfully strange and slightly unsettling” due to its embodiment of “a natural world with no human presence.”
Both of the new exhibits are supported by the Friends of the Museum of Art and Public Value Partnership Grant, New Hampshire State Council of the Arts. All ArtBreak programs are free and open to the public.
