Group 5
Sara Isenberg, Taylor Stetzar, Malik Golden
Ceramics Major, All-around Artist
Alex Owen talking about her work at the grand opening of her senior art show: Backtalk
Alex Owen, a self-proclaimed “mega senior” at Penn State, originally planned to study Art Education. However, after a late tuition payment forced her into ceramics classes out of availability (or lack thereof), Owen found her true artistic calling.
Now a ceramics major within the Bachelor of Fine Arts program, she spends hours in her studio working on pottery, sculpting, canvas building, and painting–the last skill a talent she has recently developed.
Judging by her work, one would assume Owen had been painting, sculpting and “throwing” on the pottery wheel her entire life, but before college, she mostly focused on graphic design at her vocational high school. It was graphic design that pushed Owen into art, she said.
So, why did an artistic woman like Owen choose Penn State over a more traditionally artsy school?
“That was a huge decision for me. I had no idea what I wanted to do,” Owen said. While she received multiple scholarships from art schools in New York City, she said, she was hesitant to commit to a school that focused only on art, in case someday she changed her mind on what her life path would be. She also knew she wanted the “college feel,” she said, as many of the schools she was interested in were located in cities without a distinction between campus and the rest of the world.
“I came here and I had no idea what Penn State was like,” Owen said. When she found out she had been accepted to the University Park campus, Owen said she had “no idea what that meant,” and how special it was to be accepted to the main campus right off the bat. She recalled being shocked the first time she heard people yell “We Are!”
The “surprisingly” good facilities for the BFA program at a non-liberal arts school, along with the overall genuine enthusiasm and friendly nature of everyone she encountered, made Owen fall in love with Penn State. “I wish I could stay longer,” she added.
“At the other art schools, everybody sits around all quiet, and it almost seems like the type of environment where if you forgot a pencil that day, nobody would offer you one,” Owen said. At Penn State, Owen’s fellow undergraduate students, graduate students and professors create an amazing environment, Owen said.
“My professors here really push me to become an artist, not just somebody who likes to do art,” Owen said. This means being able to show your work and talk about it, which is something she had to do when she opened her senior showcase “Backtalk” in Penn State’s Patterson Building gallery.
Owen’s art exhibit, Backtalk, featured 24 miniature paintings of teeth, two large paintings, two smaller paintings, two medium-sized paintings, a large sculpture, and about 25 ceramic pieces, she said.
The base of the sculpture Alex Owen built and sculpted herself.
The top of Alex Owen’s statue glistens in the gallery light.
The paintings of exaggerated faces and body parts vibrantly captivated the room, while ceramic mugs depicting almost caricature style faces and mouths lined the self installed shelving. “[The sculpture] kind of looks like a person now. It’s really weird; it’s like a mixture between Cousin Itt and the little hand from the Addams Family running around,” Owen said of the over three foot tall piece.
Much of her inspiration for the theme of the show, which she characterized as “punchy,” comes from her opinion of her own character–loud and intimidating, in Owen’s words. Some of the paintings in the exhibit were actually influenced by selfies Owen took on her phone.
Alex Owen’s hand crafted ceramic mugs dominate the gallery with their unusual looks.
The rest of the inspiration for Backtalk came from the people around her, like the “mouth-breather” who sat next to Owen in math class, her friends from high school, or even from scientific museum exhibits on human anatomy.
A show this elaborate does not typically happen overnight, Owen, her family, and her boyfriend, Alan Esposito, were still installing shelves, mirrors and lighting fixtures, along with hanging paintings and arranging ceramic pieces up until just hours before the show opened.
All the stress of creating and preparing the show paid off, though. Owen said one attendee to the grand opening told her it was “the best show they had ever seen in this gallery.” “I’ve never had that type of feedback,” Owen said, as Backtalk was her first solo show.
Not only did people tell Owen how much they loved her work, but they also proved it, by signing up to buy various pieces from Backtalk.
“Selling things right now isn’t so important to me–I would love to make some money and sell things–but, I think what’s more important is to show my work and get it out there,” Owen said.
Owen still has dreams of teaching art, and aspires to go to graduate school one day, she stays working hard day in and day out to develop her skills and continue making art in any medium she can get her hands on. Her goal is to get her work into people’s homes as soon as possible, and hopes to one day sell to someone of prominence in the art collecting community.
As her final semester comes to a close, Owen looks back on her time at Penn State and the challenges she overcame to reach where she is today. With this final reflection, she developed one simple recipe for success that does not only apply to aspiring artists, but to people everywhere: “Put the time in, work your ass off, and do something you love.”