Under normal circumstances, I would expect Calkins Hall to be empty on a Friday night at 7:30 p.m. However, on April 21, junior marketing major Shannon Hogarty hosted a reception for her gallery and Calkins was anything but empty.
The usually quiet halls now contained family and friends munching on assorted sandwiches and chips with salsa.
“It was nice being able to get a group of people who I never thought I could get in a room together,” Hogarty said.
If you have ever seen a porcelain tea set you know exactly how perfect each piece is. So delicate and smooth to the touch, you feel as though you will break it just by placing it on a table.
This is exactly what Hogarty’s work reminded me of: perfect porcelain tea sets. Although the concept seems simple, the simplicity was what made the sets so appealing to look at.
The first set was placed on an all-white table with a long white-knitted runner. The pieces were perfectly placed as though they were waiting for people to sit down and enjoy them.
Hogarty’s tea set was made from clay, adding to the all-white theme of the table. Despite their white exteriors, each piece was painted either brown or blue on the inside – which allowed for the pieces to stand out against the white background.
As you continued through the gallery, the color schemes slowly evolved into darker tones. Each tea set also grew in size and in the type of pieces.
My favorite was the final set, which featured a large blue-knitted blanket draped over a pillar, which cascaded down onto smaller boxes. The dark blue gave the effect of a waterfall as the deep green pots sat around and on the blanket.
The darker green of the pots helped them to stand out against the blue in the blanket. Hogarty did a great job of keeping her work at the forefront of the viewers’ minds and not allowing them to get lost in the background.
Shannon Hogarty’s gallery, “Home Spun,” gave viewers a comforting feeling and a nice bit of nostalgia. The beautifully crafted tea sets and pots reminds the viewers of the simpler pieces in life.