Source: Smile Politely
During October and early November, at Parkland College’s Giertz Gallery, five artists explore their relationship with the outdoors in a themed exhibit titled The Great Outdoors: A Group Exhibition.
When I first entered the gallery from the hallway, I noticed the painting by Amanda Smith entitled “Unless we close our eyes, we can’t see where we used to be” (2024). The painting depicts four unfilled lawn chairs situated around a burning firepit. The wooden table at the bottom of the painting, situated between the chairs, features a mug and a beer bottle. The wooden table at the top of the painting has two beer cans on it. The firepit casts dancing light across the scene, which Smith masterfully captures. The chairs are surrounded by the plants of “the great outdoors.”
In Smith’s artistic statement at the gallery, she mentions that during the COVID-19 pandemic she explored her backyard in Indiana from the perspective of an artist. This could be reflected in the painting, which may symbolize Smith’s contentment with life while creating the artwork. Her contentment in life is passed on to the viewer through her delicate brushstrokes.
At least one of the paintings by Smith is being shown for the first time at the Giertz Gallery. The painting is entitled “Nature Center” (2025). Smith used acrylic paints to capture the moment when a nighttime observer at a closed nature center sees a male deer in the light of their flashlight. The deer is startled by the security lights at the nature center. In the painting, a snake is resting on the bottom rung of the wooden fence. Anyone who has seen a deer startled by light will be impressed by how Smith captures the scene in the painting.
Near the door of the gallery is a terra cotta piece of pottery by Pattie Chalmers entitled “Rush, Sedge, and Grass Vase.”. The vase has a light brown color reminiscent of soil. Chalmers designed the piece with prints of rush, sedge, and grass enclosed in white circles. The vase does remind me of a riverbank or moist ground.
On the other side of the divider in the Giertz Gallery are pieces of artwork from three artists: Travis Head, Beth Shadur, and Hannah Buchanan.
In the exhibition, Travis Head has drawings and photographs. Two drawings in the exhibit by Head are entitled “Extinction Event circa 1985” and “An Extinction Event circa 2010.” In these drawings, Head records single living organisms that have died in the past year. These drawings emphasize each organism as an individual rather than part of a collective — the death of a single tree becomes its own extinction event, equal in significance to a mass extinction. I believe that Head was hoping the drawings would make the viewer think before they killed any living organism.
Head took photographs of himself holding a notebook of his drawings while he was outside. The scenery behind the notebook matches the subject of the drawings. Head’s photographs are supposed to make the viewer contemplate the object in the drawing.
Beth Shadur presented artwork about the National Parks. Several of Beth Shadur’s artworks are collages of the National Parks. These collages portray animals, plants, fungi, Native American history, Settler history, and geological features. The exhibition featured watercolor collages from various National Parks, including Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in Colorado, among others. These watercolor collages were quite large and very full of information. I enjoyed these collages, and I thought they were beautiful.
The artist Hannah Buchanan explores her love of fishing through various mediums, including acrylic painting, oil painting, and plaster sculptures of bobbers. The bobber is a small float placed on a fishing line to keep the hook at a desired depth in the water. Buchanan’s plaster bobbers are tiny and colorful.
One of Buchanan’s pieces is a fishing inventory entitled “Inventory.” The main painting features a green background with various fishing items scattered across it. It is surrounded by three small paintings of different items related to fishing inventory, including “Green Nightcrawlers,” and “Trout Worms.” The main painting is also surrounded by two boxes featuring two types of lures, painted with both acrylic and oil paint. The painting is quite involved for the viewer, with a large amount of detail. It’s striking to stand back in the room and absorb the colorful detail.
In her artwork, Buchanan’s love of fishing is evident and quite infectious. Buchanan’s artwork inspires people like me to get out there and find my own fishing pole.
I really enjoyed the Great Outdoors exhibit. Each of the artists shows their love of exploring the Great Outdoors in different ways, and that feeling is evident throughout the gallery’s inviting space.
The Great Outdoors
Giertz Gallery at Parkland College
2400 W Bradley Ave
Champaign
Exhibit runs through Nov 8th
Mon-Wed: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Th: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Sa: Noon to 3 p.m.
Free, donations always welcome
