UC Irvine’s Art History Undergraduate Association (AHUA) hosted the opening reception of their 13th annual exhibition on May 15 at the Student Center, commemorating this year’s theme of “(Un)natural Confluences.” All artworks were moved to the Catalyst Undergraduate Gallery at the Art Culture & Technology Building, where the “(Un)natural Confluences” exhibition was open from May 19 through May 23.
At the opening ceremony, the audience included students, faculty and local community members. Attendees were invited to take postcards featuring pieces that were displayed at the exhibition and a booklet with additional exhibition information, artist interviews and photography.
AHUA received a total of 71 artwork submissions during the winter quarter, 18 of which were selected for the final exhibition. The exhibition featured both undergraduate and graduate students at UCI, along with artists from all over Southern California.
AHUA President Myra McCants, a fourth-year art history and biological sciences double major, and Vice President Rachael Lee, a fourth-year language science and Korean literature and culture double major, gave opening remarks. Three keynote speakers: School of Humanities Dean Tyrus Miller, Art History Chair James Nisbet and Professor of Art History and Visual Studies Dr. Bert Winther-Tamaki gave additional speeches.
The speakers explained that the theme of natural and unnatural confluences aims to showcase the convergence of nature and society. The exhibition statement highlights the goal of capturing all intersections of nature and society throughout history, including the ways that humans have given to, taken from and been absorbed into the natural world.
AHUA considered the “(Un)natural Confluences” theme last year, though it lost to “Belonging: [Home, Memory, and Root].” When discussing theme ideas in the fall quarter, “(Un)natural Confluences” stuck out as a top contender. Lee explained that this year’s theme arises from what AHUA recognizes as an eternally pressing issue in society.
“We like to address how art can be mixed together, and how art can communicate about our world right now, and the societies that we live in, and I believe the environment was an issue that we wanted to talk about through art this time,” Lee told New University.
The exhibition poster introduced the natural and unnatural world’s collision by infusing an aquarium scene with mechanical elements. AHUA historian Ashley Yang, who created the poster, explained that the piece exemplifies the “(Un)natural Confluences” theme not only by bringing together species of fish that would not actually interact in the wild, but by giving the fish artificial additions. The solid orange fish in the center of the poster is augmented by a wind-up handle to emulate a plastic toy.
Throughout the exhibition, interactions between the natural and unnatural worlds were captured in a range of media and forms. Works included two-dimensional forms like painting, photography and poetry, alongside sculpture and short film.
Taylor Robertson, first-year master’s student and AHUA’s graduate student advisor, contributed two pieces to the exhibition: a collection of printed postcards and a short film. The postcards, part of Robertson’s “California Poppy Project,” are plantable, as the postcards are made of poppy-seed-embedded paper and printed with poppy-based inks. The postcards are a thoroughly integrative exercise in highlighting the interactions between plants and humanity throughout the cycle of life and death.
Kia Harlan, a community member and potter based in Alhambra, Calif., sculpted a heart-shaped vase and filled it with dried flowers for her submission to the exhibition. Harlan described her piece as a pushback to the frequent tension between the natural and unnatural worlds.
“I think that as people in nature we’re often to that end at odds with each other, but I really wanted to embrace, [the] human aspect of [how] we’re connected to nature with our hearts, and then the flowers kind of growing out of it,” Harlan told New University. “On both sides with the handprint, and I wanted that to not only start functionally as the way to pour the vessel, but also as a way to kind of show [we’re] ingrained into nature.”
Third-year East Asian cultures major Gloria Lee contributed the poem “On Waters I Hold Safe and Dear,” with translations in English and Korean. Lee’s poem explores the beauty and wisdom found in nature’s mundanity. The poem draws from personal experiences by reflecting on the memories that nature inherently holds and demonstrating the coexistence between humans and their environment.
Rachael Lee voiced her hopes that the exhibition would broaden perspectives of how art can explore complex topics like those featured in “(Un)natural Confluences.”
“I would hope they’re not only just taking in the theme itself, but also about how art can be used to communicate topics like this, and how [art] can be used as storytelling, and it has intention and meaning behind it that people could, should listen to,” Lee told New University.
The exhibition’s organization contributes to audiences’ enhanced understanding of these themes. McCants emphasized the value of AHUA’s exhibitions being held in the small galleries at UCI, which allows viewers to examine the artwork on a closer level than possible in a traditional museum setting.
“I feel like, with the setting we create here at UCI, it’s much more intimate, where it’s not so much a photo op area, but you actually [interact] with the piece,” McCants told New University. “Creating that environment to look at the works and really try to connect with them is the important thing that I think AHUA does.”
Camille Robinson is an Arts & Entertainment Staff Writer. She can be reached at camilllr@uci.edu.
Edited by Lillian Dunn and Joshua Gonzales.
