Seniors Ariel Hodge and Samantha Johnson showcase their artwork

North Central College presents “Fairy Tales and Realities: An Exploration into Social Distortions,” featuring the artwork of senior studio art majors Ariel Hodge and Samantha Johnson.  

Their free exhibit will showcase drawings, ceramics, cutouts and sculpture March 6-31 in the College’s Meiley-Swallow Hall Gallery, 31 S. Ellsworth St. The public is invited to meet the artists during a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, March 7, in the gallery. Light refreshments will be served.

“In our exhibit, we wanted to show how fairy tales and reality greatly differ from each other and how there are social distortions present in both,” says Hodge.

Hodge, of North Aurora, will present paper cutouts and sculpture. She’s inspired by fairy tales and children’s rhymes, which are often the subjects for her work. However, Hodge also has explored reality through the theme of pinup girls. “Pinup girls are reality because they’re sex icons, and sex sells in reality,” says Hodge. The juxtaposition between her work with the imagined and the real emphasizes their differences.

Johnson, of Calumet City, will exhibit sculptures, ceramics and drawings. She focuses on disorders and issues that affect society, such as eating disorders, depression, anxiety, rape, abuse, etc. “All of these create their own reality whether or not we choose to acknowledge them,” Johnson says. “People succumbing to societal pressures and patterns, by either embracing or ignoring their issues to maintain the desired image, is what I investigate through my work.”

Christine Rabenold, assistant professor of art, is faculty advisor for the exhibit. For more information about the exhibit or gallery hours, contact Rabenold at 630-637-5543 or cmrabenold@noctrl.edu. 

Art students at North Central College learn traditional and contemporary media; engage in analytical, critical and abstract thinking; and learn to communicate ideas visually. Students attend gallery and museum openings and exhibits in Naperville and Chicago, meet visiting artists, enter juried exhibitions and gain an academic foundation for graduate study in studio art, art education, art history, art therapy, arts administration, art criticism and visual communications. Visit northcentralcollege.edu/majors/art to learn more about North Central’s art program.