Exploring the Emotions of Natural Beauty

from Method | Fall 2021

by The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Alumni Notes

by SHAWN RYAN

Earlier this year, associate professors Christina Renfer Vogel and Katie Hargrave exhibited their artwork at “Of Care and Destruction: Atlanta Biennial 2021,” an invitation-only exhibition at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center.

Vogel showcased two paintings, both of which follow a traditional style. She says, “I have turned toward still life most recently, a genre with deep historical roots and one that reflects my interest in the everyday. Painting flowers has become a way for me to embrace beauty as an act of care. I think of the work as nonthreatening, benign, but with the potential to seduce or disarm. I want these paintings to feel lush, verdant and abundant, a restorative balm by way of pure visual pleasure.”

For her piece, Hargrave and her collaborator Meredith Lynn, an assistant professor at Florida State University, traveled to Cumberland Island on the coast of Georgia.

“We used crowd-sourced images of tourist experiences on Cumberland Island National Seashore to create a functional tent which tries (and fails) to blend into the landscape of the island. The project explores how tourists record their experience of a place through social media posts and campers’ search for authentic experiences of wildness,” says Hargrave.