Student assists with art installation

The University Gallery, seated inside Porter Hall, recently opened with a new art exhibit by Stephen Watson. Watson’s exhibit features an installation which he received help with from Victoria Lemke, senior in 3D art. 

Watson is an assistant art professor at Samford University and recently travelled to Pitt State to present a lecture on his exhibit. Lemke assisted Watson in putting together one of his pieces titled “Spices No. 1 (Warm).” 

“It was actually really great, he was really relaxed, down-to-Earth guy,” Lemke said. “It was really interesting, especially how he did it because I managed to go to his lecture before I had to go to class and it was just an intriguing idea of how he decided to use seasoning to make all these patterns, and it was just a great opportunity for me to actually do.” 

This installation was made with acrylic glass and spices; spices included in the piece were chili powder, cinnamon, paprika, and turmeric, which created the different colors of the piece. The first day Lemke worked with Watson they focused on the glass, while on day two they worked on the spices part of the project. 

“… Pretty much we just grabbed a table and put some newspaper on it and just grabbed one section of plexiglass and put the seasoning on it,” Lemke said. “… And it took us, especially me and him, a couple hours, probably about two or three.” 

Lemke was chosen to assist Watson because while she was waiting a class an instructor approached her and asked if she would be interested. Lemke accepted because she had ample free time during her days between classes, which was time she used to help put together the installation. 

“I think it made me think a little outside of the box because I never really heard of someone using spices and it was really an interesting project to help him on,” Lemke said. “Yeah, it just made me think outside of the box to actually using other stuff than not your traditional medium of paint and all that stuff.” 

Lemke primarily focuses on sculptures within the 3D art field, trying out various different methods, ranging from ceramics to others. 

“I do pretty much, I kind of hop around to anything that is 3D, sometimes 2D if I feel like it,” she said. “I used to do, and I’m slowly expanding on it, is to do paper machete bowls, and I’m kind of going to more outside of the box with just using paper machete. I do ceramics occasionally and I sometimes like to do, if I have time, is grab an object and just tear everything down and reassemble something completely different. But yeah, that’s pretty much what I do, mostly sculptures is what I focus on.” 

Lemke said she hopes to make more sculptures in the future but that assisting Watson was good experience.  

“It just was a great opportunity for me to actually do it and help in any way I can,” she said.