adventures in realism:

artist amy kaplan at the waysmeet gallery

by jill cummings

Through the small glass doors of the Waysmeet Center, students could be seen putting the finishing touches on the artwork they would be displaying. Artists rushed back and forth across the room ensuring that everything was absolutely perfect. On the other side of the glass, they are just darts of color. The Waysmeet Art Gallery would be the first of its kind at UNH-A gallery run for students, by students. Unlike the PCAC gallery, which displays the work of professors and professional artists, the Waysmeet Gallery will display the work of UNH student artists, whether they choose art as a major or not. It is October 16, this is their grand opening.

At five minutes past 8:00, the doors swung open. After a short introduction, the crowd rushed in. Paintings and photographs clung to the walls, while sculptures stood watch over the small room, both delighting and haunting spectators with their textures and colors.

In the back left corner of the room, a large painting of an angry woman standing in front of an orange backdrop beckoned me. The painting was so real; it was almost like a photograph. The emotion that the woman in the piece expressed was eerily evident. Her eyes pierced the canvas as she gave an evil stare back at whoever had pissed her off. I was floored at the thought that someone was talented enough to create something so powerful with just a brush and some paint.

The artist's name, I learned, is Amy Kaplan, a junior pre-vet major. I had it drilled in my head since high school that some people who were right brained, and some people were left brained, and you just didn't get the best of both worlds. Not so with Kaplan. As a pre-vet major, she originally had a hard time trying to decide between art and science for a career. After she graduated from high school in 2000, she followed her boyfriend at the time to Daytona Beach, Florida, and tried to make a living selling art there.

The starving artist's life wasn't for Kaplan. What she enjoyed the most about her experience with art was creating pieces just to create them. She didn't like being commissioned by people to do a certain piece by a certain time. Art was her hobby and she wanted to keep it that way. The second youngest of seven children from Cumberland, Maine, Kaplan became involved in art when she was in middle school. When she decided that it was something she really enjoyed even though she claims she wasn't very good at it.

She decided to pursue her love for art into high school. It was there that she met her arch nemesis in the form of an art teacher who discouraged Kaplan from pursuing a career in art. "He told me that my art wasn't considered art. He told me that real artists don't do realism." Fueled with anger, Kaplan was able to produce the painting of the woman that caught my eye at the gallery. She said that she made it her gift to him to show her frustration with his teaching.

"When I was in high school I used to work a lot out of sadness and frustration. I was the youngest child for nearly 13 years, so I was picked on and teased and could never really figure out what I was doing wrong," Kaplan explained. "I would just lock myself in my room and draw to get things out. Now more of my work is produced because I care for someone. I create my pieces because I want to show someone that I appreciate them and am glad that they are in my life."

Until her showing at the Waysmeet Gallery, Kaplan had never shown her work to other artists before. A generally humble person, Kaplan has only shown her artwork to people that she cares for and trusts. "I had an ex-boyfriend who is the reason that I stopped creating pieces for a long time," she explained. "I opened up to my portfolio to show him my work and he just looked at me and said, 'Eh, it's not my thing.' I was really hurt, and didn't draw or paint for a long time after."

The response that Kaplan received from students and artists at the gallery was overwhelmingly good.She found it hard to believe that her work could move people in the way that she has been moved by other's work. "My favorite part about the type of art that I create is that I try to recreate something that I think says enough already. I'm fascinated by the beauty that already exists in something, and I think it's a challenge to try to recreate that."

After her experience with the Waysmeet Gallery, Kaplan is not so nervous about showing her artwork again. Fidgeting a little bit before answering a definitive yes to the question, she flashes a smile and decides that maybe a positive experience like the one she had at Waysmeet can be replicated.

Kaplan was one of seven artists featured during the month of October at the gallery. The gallery, located at 15 Mill Road, across from C-Lot and Mills Hall, is open from 9am to 9pm every day of the week for people to peruse. Every 16th of the month, there is a new opening night for the gallery where a new group of artists will be featured.