ECC Art Students Show Work at Art Saint Louis

Artwork by East Central College students Milo Guile and Abigail Stanfield are on display now in the 27th annual “Varsity Art” exhibit presented at Art Saint Louis.

Guile, of Washington, and Stanfield, of Union, were selected by the ECC Art Department to show at the “Varsity Art XXVII,” a multi-media invitational visual art exhibition. Varsity Art opened March 3 and will run through March 30.

Guile and Stanfield were selected to show their pieces alongside 41 other regional artists at the multi-media exhibition. The artists all are undergrad and grad level art students representing 22 St. Louis regional colleges and universities from Missouri and Illinois.

This year’s exhibit presents contemporary themes and the works were created in ceramics, digital art, drawing, graphic design, mixed media, painting, paper, photography, printmaking, sculpture, textiles and video.

The Gallery, located at 1223 Pine Street St. Louis, is open Mondays through Fridays, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

View all the artworks in an album on the Art Saint Louis Facebook page or see the Virtual Gallery Exhibit at www.artstlouis.org/index.php/exhibitions/in-the-gallery.

Milo Guile

“Forest Walk” was created digitally by Guile using Clip Studio Paint.

“Forest Walk” by Milo Guile

“For this piece, I aimed to create an atmospheric and whimsical environment,” he said. “A forest at night is the perfect setting for this, as walking through the woods after sundown is an unnerving yet almost unworldly experience.

“I wanted to capture this feeling by using purples and blues for the scenery while giving the child contrasting colors to make them feel out of place, as if they don’t belong in the world that they stumbled into,” Guile added.

He said he’s incredibly honored to be selected for this gallery.

“I am so grateful for my instructors who helped me improve and got me up to this point,” Guile said. “This show has been an amazing opportunity to challenge myself and to meet so many other talented students and learn about their schools.

“This whole experience has made me excited for the future and has inspired me to continue to pursue this path,” he commented.

Abby Stanfield

“The Boogeyman,” exhibited by Stanfield, was created in watercolor.

“’The Boogeyman’ is my own depiction of the creature from my childhood,” she said. “I chose to elongate the figure and use dark blues and purples to emphasize the sinister nature of the subject.

“Boogeyman” by Abby Stanfield

“The creature is placed in a young girl’s bedroom, suggesting that this could possibly be a figment of her imagination,” Stanfield commented.

She added that displaying her work at Art Saint Louis has been a rewarding and exciting experience.

“I’m extremely thankful for my instructors and all the help they provided every step of the way, and for giving me this opportunity,” Stanfield said. “I definitely learned a lot from this experience, and it was great meeting other art students in the area.”

Collaboration

This annual exhibit is a collaboration between Art Saint Louis and the participating collegiate institutions, their art faculty and students.

Art Saint Louis’ Artistic Director works closely with art professors and faculty at the area’s colleges and universities, inviting the professors to select two outstanding art students to represent their art department and institution in its annual show.

To learn more about ECC’s art and design program, visit www.eastcentral.edu/humanities-arts/art/.