Barbara Vasquez Editor-in-Chief
O’Malley Library has recently brought the “Emanations, Iterations,” display to their gallery space, created by Ralph Bucci, F.S.C., in an effort to revitalize the space as more frequently used exhibition space.
The exhibit features a number of sculptures produced by Br. Ralph throughout the years – one of the earliest sculptures featured comes from 1977, with some coming from as recently as last year, according to Br. Ralph. The range of time represented by these various sculptures is all part of the meaning behind the exhibit.
“Emanations, Iterations,” will be on exhibit until March 1.
“The exhibit may be considered a metaphor for one’s growth, be it physical, psychological, spiritual, or all three simultaneously,” according to the artist statement Br. Ralph provided the exhibit. “We have an opportunity to create ourselves throughout our lifetimes. … We change by trying new things, experimenting, practicing, adopting, adapting, going deeper into who we are, so as to validate our integrity, thus creating a more genuine me.”
The exhibition consists of three different themes accompanied by the appropriate shaping. First include the “dolmens,” which pull inspiration from post and lintel pre-historic stone formations [a famous example being the Stonehenge landmark in the United Kingdom], “scapes,” which reference various mountainscape and hill formations and “closed vessels,” which offers the most evident examples of iteration and evolution.
“You can see how that [shape] progresses, ergo the iteration, the development,” Br. Ralph said, in reference to the gradual change to the shape of his ‘closed vessel’ pieces on display in the exhibition.
The sculptures are made using clay, a preferred artistic medium for Br. Ralph. He shapes the clay first, later intentionally adding additional textures to the pieces, using a variety of tools such as forks or his own fingers. Color is added through spray paint and a smoke-firing process that can range from hours to even days. The color produced from this process varies greatly – the combination of these textures and “unplanned colors” are vital in creating the visual interest that Br. Ralph seeks to incorporate in his pieces.
Brother Ralph poses with his closed vessel, dolmen and scape sculptures. BARBARA VASQUEZ / THE QUADRANGLE
“In anything that is great, anytime you come back there’s another appreciation for it,” Br. Ralph said. “There’s something in the piece that grabs your attention. The clay texture is reminiscent of stone, like the stone structures earlier [the prehistoric stone formations he drew inspiration from]. There’s something I believe that attracts us to those things, because we wonder about them – how they were made, what the purpose of them was, what is the texture? We wonder about them visually, actually. It’s part of the mystery.”
Br. Ralph goes on to relate this ‘wonder,’ produced by the structures to the collective unconscious, or the belief that “somehow everybody possesses all of human experience,” and “when we see something, it attracts our attention because it resonates with something inside all of us.”
In the creation of his sculptures, Br. Ralph finds ways to almost communicate with this wonder.
“That’s what this is supposed to do, create a sense of wonder: what, why, where, when?” Br. Ralph said. “Then we get back to the building process, but a dialog happens. That’s part of the iteration. That’s how the pieces change. There’s a dialog now [between art and artist].”
Br. Ralph featured some of these same sculptures in a previous exhibition during November 2020, titled “Closed Vessels, Dolmens, -scapes.” In previous years, the library’s gallery was frequently used as an exhibition space, like it was originally intended for. However, the frequency in which art was on display slowed greatly in recent years – there were periods of time where the space was left completely bare even. After Br. Ralph reached out to interim director of the library, Susanne Markgren, conversation sparked about reviving the space.
“He got in touch with me and said ‘okay, Amy [the previous director of the library] and I planned this, and she said I could have the space’ and I thought ‘that’s wonderful’,” Markgren said. “Because it had sat empty for a while if you remember, and it always made me feel sad.”
Markgren described the library’s efforts to fill the space last semester through implementing a puzzle and games corner and coffee sessions during finals week. However, she knew she needed to reinstate something new for the spring semester, when at the “perfect timing” Br. Ralph reached out concerning his exhibit. Since his exhibit has gone up, requests for the space have already begun to roll in.
“It would be exciting to have at least maybe two, if not three per semester,” Markgren said. “Which seems kind of bold, and I was kind of scared at first, but since Brother Ralph put up his exhibit, I’ve had several people contact me about that space… so we want to do that this semester. At some point, we might be looking at other spaces in the library, and not just that one, if we have so much demand.”
The space is planned to be open for submissions from anyone in the community, from students and faculty to local artists.
“We want to promote mainly student work, faculty and staff work,” Markgren said. “People on campus would be our priority and then also potentially get other people from outside, which is what, in the past couple years, we’ve kind of mainly had.”
The Quadrangle reached out to professor of art history and digital media art, Daniel Savoy, in order to gain a more nuanced understanding of what this exhibition space could mean for the art scene on campus.
“I think it will have a tremendously positive impact on the community because it will increase the presence of the visual arts on campus, and will let people see the spectacular work being done by our student artists,” Savoy wrote in an email to The Quadrangle. “When people see this work, they will come to know that they’re part of a vibrant community.”
The next exhibition set to be on display will be dedicated to Mission Week, according to Markgren, and will hopefully be on display by late March. In the meantime, she hopes to create a website in order to better promote the space and offer a place for submissions from artists.