Keeping art observable during winter break

With most students home for the holidays, Millersville’s campus was quiet and uneventful. But even during break, the University still provided culture and entertainment.

Melissa Kuntz displayed her art in the Sykes Gallery during the winter session, through the first week of the spring semester.

Her art utilizes mostly basic lines and shapes, and has a very pop like feel, much like the art of Andy Warhol. Though she does not focus on subjects like Marilyn Monroe or bananas, her art would look quite at home in a Warhol gallery.

Kuntz’s paintings, in her most current show, feature close-ups of everyday images such as signs and hotel balconies. In fact, the majority of the paintings are of signs for establishments of no real importance; one being “Pinecrest Motel.” Her paintings give off a  lighthearted feeling, making the viewer feel like he or she is vacationing at the beach or the mountains.

Many of the pictures almost appear to be photographs that were accidentally set on zoom when they did not have to be. The signs only show the last half of the word and give off little indication of what it was supposed to be in the first place.

They display no backgrounds and are set in front of only plain whites, grays and blues. However, what the pictures lack in detail they make up for in a sort of retro like spunk. It appears that Kuntz not only used Warhol’s design as a muse, but also used his time period. The paintings look like representations of works that would have come out of the 50s.

One piece features a diner with booths perfect for a poodle skirt. Kunts received her Bachelors of Fine Arts from Novia Scotia College of Art and Design and her Masters of Fine Arts from Purchase College in New York.

She now teaches at Clarion University in Western Pennsylvania. Kuntz has received numerous awards for her art exhibitions and collections. Sykes Gallery is featuring artist Danielle Kramar next and will be showing her exhibit, “Only The Real.”