Katie Hoyle McColl Center Response Page 1 of 6 McColl Center Response The McColl Center for Visual Arts

was a very intriguing museum, which actively kept my attention. I did not expect the types of work from the artists we saw to be the resident artists at the center. It was a very diverse group of artists, which is what I found interesting. The artists lined up their work very differently from the other museums we went to. Every level of the museum contained a different artist which allowed enough room for their pieces to be displayed. Having their own space allowed them to decide how their pieces should be set up which enabled the viewers to interpret the message however they wanted to. I liked that the art gallery was actually the building where a church used to be, and that you could see where it had been partially destroyed by a fire. The lighting in each gallery displayed the pieces in the best way possible. Some places were darker when the message was meant to convey a more negative meaning, and lighter when it was meant to be positive. Some of the pieces did not specifically have information right beside them, because they were a part of a bigger meaning, and went in with a certain group of pictures. They had many different colors in the gallery which was cool and sometimes unexpected. I liked that not all of the art in the gallery was specifically pictures. They had a variety of different forms. Joseph Herscher was a very interesting artist, and before seeing his exhibit I would have never thought that his work was actually art. I look at different forms and consider them art more now than I used to. His art is intriguing, because it involves very interesting and specific steps to make the art actually work. Seeing his gallery in the making was also interesting, because I never realized how long and strategic he had to be when putting the exhibit

Katie Hoyle McColl Center Response Page 2 of 6 together. When he was explaining how many times he had to try some of the parts, I realized I definitely would not have been as patient as him. Dread Scott was also an inspiring artist, because he took a different perspective when he created art. The movie which we watched was very compelling, and I never thought about the issues he conveyed in his art the way he portrayed them. His art work is very risky and sometimes it did not work the way he wanted it to. I enjoyed listening to him talk, because he was able to explain things in an interesting way that I had never thought about before. My two favorite pieces were from the same artist, Dread Scott. I was very moved by his artwork, because each specific piece stood out, but also they all worked together. I also picked these two pieces, because they coincide with information I learned in my Civil Rights class. He used interesting colors that helped me understand his pieces even more. The first picture I choose did not have a title; it displayed a middle-aged African American woman. It also included red writing that stated, If white people didnt invent air, what would we breathe? As mentioned in my papers before, I am in a Civil Rights Class which is why I am so interested in this picture. One of my favorite aesthetic qualities of the picture was the color of the writing. The quote was written in red, which really got me thinking. To me, the red in the picture depicts a bloody type color. The artist could have chosen to use it in the picture to show how much violence was happening during the Civil Rights movement time, and how a lot of people were dying for the cause. The second aesthetic quality was the lighting. Since the picture was black and white, and then had the red writing the lighting had to be perfect to illuminate the work correctly. The artist and the workers of the art gallery did a good job with the placement of the

Katie Hoyle McColl Center Response Page 3 of 6 light, and it definitely helped in how I interpreted the picture. Lastly, the shape of the picture really stood out to me. The caricature of Mammy was very well depicted, because the artist did not wrongly enlarge any of her features, like many artists did back in the day. I was very drawn to this picture, because it contained a well-known character that we talk about in my Civil Rights Class. The woman displayed in the picture is Mammy. She was created during the Jim Crow era and represents a happy African-American slave who is happy to serve her white family. The depiction of her character is totally different from her personality, because she is not happy with being treated the way she is. I connect with this picture so much, because I have more of a background on Mammy from my Civil Rights Class then others do. I enjoy the character of Mammy and how she was actually respected and loved by the white family she served. To me this picture has a very cultivating theme exactly like the quote said, If white people didnt invent air, what would we breathe? This was a question that I think back in the Civil Rights Era people saw as an okay thing. Degrading African-Americans had become the norm, and was seen as acceptable in society. It is sad to think that the black community thought this was true, because white supremacy had always been intact. Blacks were so controlled by whites they never had time to look for freedom until they started fighting for it. The next picture I thoroughly enjoyed featured Dread Scott, and he was holding a sign that said, I AM NOT A MAN. This piece was a very simple, but extremely moving one. Normally when a person is holding a sign you overlook them, or what they are holding does not catch your eye. In this instance it definitely caught my eye.

Katie Hoyle McColl Center Response Page 4 of 6 Color, the presentation of the sign, and the character in the picture were the three aesthetic qualities I pulled from it. I loved that Scott decided to not use color on the sign and that it stayed as a black and white sign. The fact that it was black and white showed how he knew that racial issues were going to constantly be a problem, and should not be overlooked. The way he presented the sign also stuck with me. Instead of it being on a stick being waved around in the air, he sternly held it in front of him and just marched. I think seeing it right near his chest, and seeing how serious he was about it caught my eye. The last quality is the character in the picture. The fact that Dread Scott himself was holding the sign in his hand and walking around with it said a lot. Instead of choosing someone else, he himself chose to display it. I believe that when people realize it was him they will respect him because he chose to speak his mind and support the cause. I personally connected to this picture after we got the opportunity to talk to Dread Scott himself. Before I really looked at any of his pieces of art, I went in and listened to him talk. I was so inspired by how serious he is about his work and how he is working to make sure peoples voices are heard. To me, he was my favorite artists there because you could see how passionate he was, not only in person by in his works as well. When looking at this picture I feel that Dread Scott was trying to point out that he is just a human, and that he does not agree with classifying an individual any certain way. He wants people to see that we should respect a person no matter what color, race, ethnicity or background. Everyone is equal because we are all humans. As mentioned in the paragraph before I feel like he is trying to point out the theme that everyone is human and we should all be treated equal. Our culture and society is way different from how the past and the future will be. In our culture now we need to learn to be more accepting and respectful. Everyone deserves an equal chance to prove themselves without

Katie Hoyle McColl Center Response Page 5 of 6 judgment. I enjoy that Dread Scott includes himself in his pieces because it shows how he wants his viewers to know that he has joined in the fight as well. This museum was very unique, and I enjoyed the different types of art displayed. It was much different than what we have been to before. The artists all had a new unique form of art that we have not gotten the chance to see yet, which was awesome. I wish I could get back to see the live exhibit of Joseph Herscher, because it looked very interesting!