The Active Makers exhibit currently on display at the International Arts Center features art of various mediums from different Troy University art graduates. 

The co-curators of the exhibit, Brandon Rice and Paul Wolfe, sought to shine a spotlight on art from TROY graduates to showcase that TROY has an art program that has fostered successful careers in the art world. 

“We labeled the show ‘Active Makers’ because of the idea of what it looks like to be an active artist outside of school and how to show people that art can be a viable career,” Rice said. 

Wolfe and Rice accumulated the work for the exhibition by making an open call to all Troy University art graduates. They received a variety of pieces that varied in mediums and style. 

“Through the art that was sent in through the open call, we really curated different pieces that best represented the artist,” Wolfe said. 

Both of the curators are TROY art graduates who featured some of their own work in the exhibit. Wolfe’s work focused on self-discovery and self-acceptance. 

“If we really accept ourselves, we can move forward and really achieve what we want to achieve,” he explained. 

His work showed images of the artist observing different aspects of his physical self. On a small table below his photographs, Wolfe placed flesh-toned ceramics that mimicked the appearance of his skin.  

“I explore myself through the photography, and that inspires me to show what I have learned about myself through the ceramics,” he said. 

Rice’s work took on a different moral and focused on theology. One of his pieces on display is called “Man” and is inspired by a passage from the Bible that told a story about the apostle Paul. 

“They asked Paul, ‘Who is the real God?’ and he pointed to a little pedestal that said ‘Alter to the Unknown God,’ and Paul said, ‘That’s the God, the one who is unknown,’” Rice explained. “This whole piece is about freeing up your mind, and if you have any conception of what God is, to take it out because your conception is wrong no matter what it is.”

The exhibit will be on display in the International Arts Center until April 16.