In the Daughtery Gallery in the Fine Arts Building, the Art Department is hosting the “Argentum: Contemporary Silverpoint Artshow.” The show opened on Oct. 18 and is open for public viewing until Nov. 20.
The show includes a variety of pieces curated by Lauren Redding, whose own work is also included in the collection.
The silverpoint technique is created by dragging a stylus or other tool filled with silver across the artist’s preferred medium. Most artists use a gesso, or primer, to create a surface on which the silver can easily be applied.
The novelty behind silverpoint lies in its permanence, because once an etching has been made it cannot be erased. Each stroke must be made with the finished product in mind, she explained.
The technique of silverpoint was popular among the old masters of the early Renaissance period, like Leonardo DaVici and Raphael. It has become popular among artists again today, freshman Alaura Gage said, because “it is a very fluid medium that can be used with all sorts of materials and styles.”
Redding first set up the silverpoint exhibit in Manhattan in 2017. As a close friend and student of Sam Knecht, professor of art and previous head of the art department at Hillsdale, she was invited to bring her exhibit to Hillsdale.
Redding received a Bachelor of Art at Northwestern University in Michigan and took classes with Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Arts in Chicago after being encouraged by Knecht, a long-time member of the society. Redding spent her next couple of years studying at the New York Academy of Art to receive her Masters of Fine Arts degree.
Redding features two of her own silverpoint pieces in the gallery as well: a self-portrait and a portrait of her husband, Brett Redding.
Most of the works in the exhibit were created by students and teachers Redding studied alongside, this includes the piece by Knecht titled “Nour.” The piece is a portrait of Hillsdale student Nour Ben Hmieida, wearing her hijab. Knecht explained that the whole project took around 30 hours, with “the folds of the fabric requiring the most time and detail.”
The gallery is a collection of a medley of different mediums and styles which each harken back to the particular intentions of each artist. There are pieces in which silverpoint is accompanied by watercolor, other forms of metalpoint, gouache, and more.
Redding set up the exhibit to include works where silverpoint had been used in a variety of ways.
Dina Brodsky’s piece “Untitled” features a leafless tree sketched in silverpoint on a blank piece of paper. The trunk appears from nothingness, floating above a nonexistent ground, and becomes more detailed as the eye is drawn across the branches to the top of the spiny tree.
Another work in the exhibit, “Pinky Swear” by Diana Corvelle, is semi-circle shaped slice of an Elizabeth Warren campaign poster with two images of Elizbeth Warren interlocking pinkies with young girls sketched onto the background.
“Silverpoint is special because it unifies artists with different styles under a single, meticulous process,” Redding said. “In some of the works here you can see neoclassical flourishes and realism-based elements, all of which are united through the old craft of silverpoint.”