River Campus exhibit features big ideas in small spaces

Ceramic bricks are 9 inches long.

Southeast Missouri State University ceramics professor Benjie Heu used those same parameters as the basis for his juried exhibition.

"Monumental Ideas/Intimate Scale: A National Juried Exhibition" opened this week in the River Campus Art Gallery.

According to Heu, every faculty member in the art department at Southeast is given a time slot on a rotating basis within the gallery. They're free to display their work, curate a show, whatever inspiration calls for.

Heu had just exhibited work in the Crisp Museum as a part of the "Transition Spaces" series. He liked the idea of doing something separate and something he hadn't done. That turned into hanging a juried show.

A piece by Craig Clifford sits in the foreground Tuesday as Benjie Heu takes photos of the artwork in the background in the art gallery of the seminary building of Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus. (Laura Simon)

Heu didn't restrict the style of art or set a mile radius on artists who could submit to the show. His only rule was for submissions to be confined in size to 9 inches by 9 inches by 9 inches.

"One thing I pressed upon the students, thinking of this as a teaching gallery, is that big ideas can be contained in a very small format," Heu said.

He also said the size fit better because the gallery space is small, along with the open option to display more artwork at one time. Small pieces are easier to ship and more cost-friendly for the artist as well. Heu explained that artists wouldn't have as much trouble knowing what to submit, either, compared to a show asking for larger work.

"It's kind of a trend. You see a lot of small works exhibitions," Heu said. "I knew it wouldn't be an uncommon like, 'I don't know what to make for that' or 'I don't know what to submit.'"

Then there are his roots as a ceramic artist.

"So a lot of things in ceramics are compared to the length of a brick," Heu said. " ... It's a unit of measure I use a lot, and so I thought, 'That's a good one,' because I thought, 'Nine by nine -- you could do a lot in nine by nine.' You could make a print, you could draw, make a little painting, you could have a cup, you could have a little sculpture, like I think that's plenty of room."

Heu said his biggest challenge lay in getting the word out to enter the show. He placed ads in magazines such as "Ceramics Monthly" and through groups such as the College Art Association conjointly with help from gallery coordinator Kristin Powers Nowlin and other gallery staff. He said he used social media as a publicity avenue, as well.

In all, Heu and Nowlin received 209 submissions from 79 artists, and Heu selected 35 artworks from 35 artists for the exhibit.

His jurying began with a CD compiling images of the artwork. He was given a sheet with no more than the name of the piece and the media used. He looked at the obvious -- craftsmanship and technical ability -- but, ultimately, Heu said, it was a piece-by-piece basis. He let each work speak for the artist and its unique quality.

" ... I just thought, 'That looks really cool. I have no idea what's going on, but I just like this,'" Heu said. "So I put it in there."

He kept diversity in mind, too. He wanted the exhibition to represent artistic media across the board. He hoped students could walk through the gallery and see a show was something they could do.

"I'm hoping students can come in and say, 'Look, I could do this,'" Heu said. "It's small. It's not like when you go to an art show and it's overwhelming with large paintings and big sculptures and you're [thinking], 'How does anybody do this stuff?' This is like, 'I can do this.' It's a smaller format. It was all media, so it's all inclusive. I'm really hoping that they [the students] really do say, 'Why did Benjie pick this piece? Because I could do this,' and then I'd say, 'Yeah, well you didn't enter.'"

Heu said, even on the national level, he thought a lot of the submissions were done by college students. He worked to show his students they could compete the same way.

He said having lines of exhibited work on a resume proves "backbone" to an employer. It's only an adaptation to an outside deadline rather than one for an assignment due in class.

He said not getting into a show is also just as much of a learning experience.

Either way, he has one request: "Put your money where mouth is," he said. "Less talk, more work."

"Monumental Ideas/Intimate Scale: A National Juried Exhibition" will be on display through Feb. 26 at the River Campus Art Gallery. An artist talk will be from 4 to 5 p.m. today, followed by a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. River Campus Art Gallery hours are from 1 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.