Rachel Spinella
Features Editor

Beginning on Feb. 3, the Weatherspoon Art Museum at UNCG is holding an exhibit featuring a selection of different pieces of art crafted by various artists. The event celebrates contemporary art in which artists use paper to create surface structures and or other material.

There were many different interesting and rather eccentric pieces on display. A piece that had particularly grasped many visitors’ attention was the art piece titled “Territory of Significance.” This piece was crafted by artist Charlotte Schulz.

The piece was created by tearing, folding and crumbing paper. Each fold was shaded and detailed differently from the others. The piece lays out similarly to a map, but with various images.

According to the curator of the museum, Elaine Gustafson, the underlying meaning of Schulz’s piece has to do with societal, environmental and internal forces. The art piece seems to give off an idea of living in the same world, but instead of it being one world, it is divided.

Another art piece that seemed to attract visitors’ attention was what appeared to be a landscape by Suyeon Na, a visual artist from South Korea. The piece is titled “Following the Stars,” created with the use of watercolor, gouache and collage paper.

Na’s piece uses watercolors to create a vibrant and colorful piece that is impossible to look away from. The painting itself has a rather unique style and symbolism to it. Her art seems to have been inspired by Asian folklore and religious iconography.   

These pieces, and many more, are currently on display for visitors to come and enjoy for free on the walls of Weatherspoon. Yet, if the beauty and eccentric forms of these pieces really catch your eye, then you can take them home with you. Each of the pieces displayed in the museum are up for sale for any buyer that may be interested in purchasing these one-of-a-kind works of art.

According to the curator, the most expensive pieces were created by Schulz, and range in price from $19,000 to $21,000.

In an interview with UNCG student Elle Michelsen, when asked which art piece she tended to favor more, she said, “I liked the living room model made entirely of paper and the painting with the wolf, [Following the Stars]. I thought that was really cool.”

Two other students by the names of Anne Nguyen and Jillian Ablera agreed with Michelsen that “Following the Stars” by Suyeon Na is one of the pieces that they particularly favored from the exhibit. They said that it was the wolf standing in the painting that didn’t quite look like a normal wolf that caught their eye.

Instead, the wolf appeared to be the color of a sunset red hue, with flower branches sticking out of its back. Michelsen commented on how abstract the image was, and perhaps that it might have symbolized something more.

The exhibit will be on display until March 5, 2019, and it is well worth your time.

Correction: The exhibition was curated by Curator of Collections, Elaine Gustafson. Edit made February 14, 2019