Liminal is the capstone showing for 2009 senior studio-art majors.

The studio-art majors in the class of 2009 have learned much over the past four years, says Todd Arsenault, assistant professor of art. But their most dramatic creative growth spurt most occurred this year.

That’s when the students created the striking works that appear in Liminal, an exhibit that encapsulates the students' artistic education at Dickinson.

“The work in this exhibition represents the development of each student’s individual voice,” Arsenault explains in the introductory text to the exhibit catalog.

The exhibit features works by seniors Molly Blann, Clare Cooper, Maxie Etess, Parry Grimm, Melissa Haimowitz, Tawi Hidaka, Navajeet K.C., Judith Lopez, Flannery Peterson, Joshua Salim, Kristan Saloky and Rachel Warren.

Viewers are inspired to enter a lively conversation during Liminal's opening reception.

Collectively, the students create an atmosphere of contemplative experimentation punctuated by jolts of edginess. This is particularly true of Blann and Salim, who were awarded the Emil and Tamar Weiss Prize for their creative work throughout the year.

Blann's darkly self-revelatory charcoals and watercolors (pictured below) dance on a murkily drawn line between the psychological and physical self. She describes the works as "at once vulnerable and aggressive, raw and layered, beautiful and grotesque," and says that they are designed to elicit "a guttural response" from the viewer.

Salim used stop-action video techniques to capture jagged-edged footage of paint dripping down panes of glass. He digitally flattened and manipulated the raw images, slowed the motion and created three different videos and then showed his videos on three surrounding walls to immerse viewers in the work. He also added an atmospherically echoed audio loop of dripping liquid to intensify the effect.

"The ability to digitally edit the source video in a nonlinear manner allows me to alter the sense of space and time," Salim notes in his artist's statement. "The drips transform space, working together to create a moving landscape."

The exhibit runs April 10-25 and May 1-June 13 at The Trout Gallery. Opening receptions were Friday, April 10, and Friday. May 1.

Read about 2009 senior art exhibit Through the Lens