All Exhaltations: Meditations in Sculpture at Robert Else Gallery CSUS

I went to see Professor Connelly's show "All Exhaltations: Meditations in Sculpture" on January 23 at the Robert Else Gallery at CSUS. I went once more with the graduate students during Seminar to discuss his work with him. The main glass door entrance to the gallery was locked and the only entrance was through the side. After entering I understood why it needed to be dark in there to clearly see the projections.


The first time I went, Nathan Nguyen was sitting the gallery and explained to the visitors are invited to bang on the bells with the wooden sticks. I was too shy to ring them too loudly, but some visitors banged on all of them as loud as they could. Each of the bells are parts of propane tanks that he had acquired and have the same tone and pitch when striked by the sticks.


Professor Connelly explained during class that Carrie Reyes Cruz helped hand sow the felt onto the sticks. He had also explained that after finishing the sculptures, he arranged the acrylic and projections in ways that he found to be the most interesting for the viewers to compare and think about these different symbols and their associations.


Professor Connelly explained that the investigation of these different symbols were done with laser cutter and colored acrylic. The projections reflect through the acrylic onto bells and locations of the wall. Each symbol shows clearly on the wall because of his experimentation with different types of light to use as projections.


All of the structures are mathematically proportionate to the buildings they represent. The presentation of the forms themselves are inspired by 70's aesthetics with heavy industry and modernist architecture.


The name of the show "All Exhaltations: Meditations in Sculpture," the same pitch and tone in ringing of the bells made me think about how these different symbols function in a similar way for those who practice them.