Gaining Hands-on Experience

Kristen Hughes

Kristen Hughes (Art and Art History and English major, Class of ’06) had two of her pieces displayed during the 2006 student art show in the Samek Art Gallery at Bucknell http://www.bucknell.edu/News_Events/More_News/April_2006/Samek_student_art_show.html. Her work, currentlyuntitled, is made of wood, plexiglass, metal, and Christmas lights. She came up with the idea for these pieces from a friend who is a Physics major. He introduced her to the book "The Elegant Universe" by Brian Greene which describes string theory. In the early part of the book, Green discusses relativity and the fact that the speed of light remains constant no matter what the frame of reference. Kristen wanted to work with this idea of the constancy of light. She did an exploration of light patterns working together to create little universes or "cosmic spaces." She hopes to complete four separate light boxes which would be displayed together in a landscape or, as Kristen states, "as a galaxy-type landscape." She feels that these pieces are quite meditative and bring to question space and depth. She wouldn’t describe the pieces as sculpture, which is three-dimensional, because these pieces are much more planar. She feels that the plexiglass invokes curiosity about what lies behind it.

Kristen’s interest in being an artist came about because she is interested in "reinterpreting phenomena around us – its existence and connection with nature - and zeroing in on certain instances and events." She wants her work to redisplay nature but in a manner which shows the hand of the artist. As she states, she has "a desire to create."

Kristen’s post graduation plans includes moving to London for a few months. Kristen is originally from York, PA. She hopes to "experience the culture [in London] and live in a more metropolitan area to see what it does to my work." As for her future, she continued to say that she is torn between practice and theory. Although she is interested in pursuing graduate studies, she remains undecided in the next step in her future.

Kristen describes sculpture as being about problem solving, particularly for the work that was on display in the Samek Art Gallery. She had to make the backs of her pieces removable to disguise the "found objects," i.e., the Christmas lights. Much of her time was spent "overcoming the materials." She hopes to create her own objects in future work. Kristen described the creative process as very rewarding. It is a manifestation of ideas into concrete objects. This is much different than the traditional academic end product of a paper. "The end product is still generated from an idea but it is fashioned into an object not a paper."

Kristen’s faculty advisor was Professor Rosalyn Richards of the Art and Art History Department. She describes Prof. Richards as "fantastic! She sees things in my work that I don’t see." Prof. Richards describes Kristen’s work as looking at screens like television since the work provides information but not as a bombardment. Kristen attributes her successful experience from the ability to work with other studio artists and her interactions with Prof. Richards.