Zirkle displays two new exhibits to illustrate womanhood, politics

Students describe Cross-Cole’s exhibit ‘impressive’

Alex Sirney / senior photographer Seniors Jabarie Borwn and Suzanne Fluty take a long look at one of the pictures in Mollie Cross-Cole's exhibit on womanhood. Cross-Cole writes that her works show her "feelings on what it means to be feminine."

Only at Zirkle House Galleries could expressions of womanhood and statements about the FBI collide. And in the next two weeks, Zirkle House will be displaying new exhibits by two JMU student artists.

Between senior Mollie Cross-Cole’s exhibit, "My Feminine" and sophomore Walker Tufts’s exhibits in the Art Works and Madison Galleries, students visiting Zirkle House will find a lot to talk about.

The two exhibits will run through Nov. 22.

"These prints, drawings and paintings are here to display how I show my feelings and ideas on what it means to be feminine," Cross-Cole writes in her exhibit description.

Cross-Cole’s works feature pictures of birds, purses and shoes — symbols of women in both serious and light-hearted ways. Cross-Cole chose muted earthy colors that strongly enhance the natural theme.

Cross-Cole emphasized the importance of women’s bodies through her exhibits.

She wrote in her exhibit description, "My women are rounded in the hips but also thin. They are curvy and undoubtedly female, but sturdy and confrontational. This is what it means to me to be feminine: To embrace the softness and the sweetness, and the strength and the confidence."

Gallery assistant and junior Maria Razos likes Cross-Cole’s exhibit because "it shows women in every light, not just the magazine stereotype. [The exhibit] portrays women not as the norm, but beautiful in other aspects."

Two of Cross-Cole’s most impressive pieces are "Mom with Hat and Flowers" and "Self-Portrait with Birds."

The first depicts an image of Cross-Cole’s mother in black and white with a giant, colorful hat and a huge smile that spreads across her face.

The image makes the viewer feel the happiness, eccentricity and femininity of the subject. "Self-Portrait with Birds" is an alluring painting of Cross-Cole from the shoulders up, with doves entwined in her hair.

The effect of the image on viewers is a woman who is goddess-like, strong and in touch with nature.

Tufts’s exhibit in Art Works makes a unique and powerful political statement through his exhibit.

He catches the attention of his viewers by not offering them any art at all. The Art Works room — surprisingly — holds no paintings, sculptures, drawings or photographs.

Rather, his exhibit is a regular white paper sign by the door on which is typed: "The Artwork for this show, ‘Four More Years,’ has been confiscated by the FBI under the provisions of the Patriot Act."

The exhibit seemed to make an impression on those who viewed the room, with murmurs of "It’s a knockout," and "Genius," eminating from the audience.

Gallery Assistant Cassie Ingram said Tufts’s idea will evolve throughout the next two weeks, saying, "Keep checking back because evidently it’s going to change."