Student exhibit ‘Forma Nascendi’ explores identity, relationships, transformation

The South Dakota State University School of Design presents “Forma Nascendi,” a joint exhibition featuring oil paintings by Hope Burkhalter and mixed-media assemblages by Catherine Jones.

On view at the Ritz Gallery Nov. 9-20, the students’ Bachelor of Fine Arts thesis exhibition explores how identities and perceptions take shape through memory, relationships and transformation.

The gallery is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., and admission is free. An opening reception will take place Monday, Nov. 9, from 5-7 p.m.

Working from photographs of her childhood, Burkhalter explores personal development and familial relationships. By translating familiar images into oil paintings, she revisits moments that have shaped her understanding of herself and the world around her.

Burkhalter is a Brookings native majoring in studio art – art education.

Jones investigates the evolution of self and perception through assemblages that bring her discarded, defective or undervalued art artifacts into conversation with unconventional materials and processes. These pairings preserve traces of earlier histories while creating new relationships, challenging inherited ideas about identity, usefulness and value.

Jones is from White and is majoring in studio art – ceramics, sculpture, printmaking and painting.

Together, Burkhalter and Jones approach formation as an ongoing process. Through the reinterpretation of personal images and material histories, their works consider how the past continues to shape the present — and how familiar things can hold possibilities for becoming something new.

The Ritz Gallery is located in Grove Hall at SDSU, south of the University Student Union between Mathews and Brown residence halls. Admission is free. Parking is available in the Union lot.