Arts This Week: A Continuous Storyline – Ruffin Gallery
By Ben Larsen
Ben Larsen
The University of Virginia art department is hosting an opening reception at the Ruffin Gallery as part of an exhibition honoring one of its professors. For Arts This Week, we spoke with Megan Marlatt.
Megan Marlatt
Hello, I am professor. Megan Marlatt, I am celebrating my 36th year of teaching at the University of Virginia, and have plans to retire at the end of this school year. In regards to that, I have put together an exhibition. I’ve curated an exhibition of my students over the past four decades. I started at the University of Virginia in 1988 and my show at Ruffin Gallery right now is called A Continuous Storyline.
Ben Larsen
How did you go about selecting these artists?
Megan Marlatt
Okay, first of all, it’s hard, because you’re teaching for 36 years. You have three classes, maybe two classes a semester, with maybe as many as 20, sometimes more students in them, sometimes less. I did the math, I came up with something like 1000 some students over those years. So it was hard. That being said, you go over 36 years of teaching and you find the students that really kind of carried the torch and decided that they were going to have a creative life. This is despite their social or economic backgrounds, they’re very diverse this group. There were people I wanted to pick, but I couldn’t, because it wouldn’t fit in the gallery. So I had to make some hard choices, but I think I made some good ones.
Ben Larsen
What is it like having all these works together in one space? I imagine it’s a variety of styles.
Megan Marlatt
Yeah, they are very different in style. It’s kind of wonderful and sad at the same time for me, because it’s like, it is closure for me, but it also feels good that I was able to inspire and touch these artists over these many years, you know? And that also being said, I have to say there were plenty of students who didn’t choose to be artists, but choose to love art. Because, like, to me, there’s only two people in the world. There’s artists and people that love art, right? And so they’re good citizens. They’re good people that are out there, and they understand, they appreciate what it takes to make art now, because they’ve either taken my class or they’ve taken other people’s classes, and that’s good to see too.
Ben Larsen
Was there anything that surprised you in putting this program together?
Megan Marlatt
The show started in New York with a smaller group because I had a smaller, smaller space there at the painting center in Chelsea, and then we moved it from New York here to Ruffin Gallery, and we expanded it and added more alumni. And I guess the thing that surprised me would be just the quality of the work. I mean, a lot of these students they’ve passed me. They’re more successful than I am as a professional artist. They’re artists on their own. I say in my statement, I call them my students, but they never really belonged to me. You know, they had wills of their own, and I think that that’s what it takes to be an artist, this kind of will that you’re going to do, you’re going to do this, and they did it, and I’m really proud of them for that. Again, I think the thing that’s wonderful about this group, this show, with this group, and bringing them all together, is just, you know, how varied their backgrounds are, and yet, they’re all producing work, and they’re all some of them are more famous than others, you know, but they’re still pursuing this creative life, which is just really wonderful. If there’s anything I’ve realized over the 36 years of teaching, is is that you can give a person every resource that you possibly can, but it doesn’t mean that they will shine, and it’s really like the creative light bulb in you it’s just really depends on the wattage. You know, some people just have a lot of wattage, and it doesn’t really matter how many resources you give them, they’re going to shine. That’s evident in this show, that there’s just this whole variety of social and economic students I’ve had over many years, and they’re all just shining in this show,
Ben Larsen
The opening reception is Friday, January 31 from 5 to 7pm and the exhibit will be up until February 14. More information about the gallery can be found on arts.as.virginia.edu. Arts This Week is supported by the UVA Arts Council and Piedmont Virginia Community College. PVCC Arts presents a rich array of dance music, theater and visual arts programming. Learn more@pvcc.edu
