'Siteworks' Exhibit Opens Feb. 7; Features Photography by Fay Jones School Students

Photo Submitted

Architecture student Hector Bello took this photograph, “Screen of Trees.” It's part of “Siteworks: A Discovery of Place,” an exhibit on display Feb. 7-21 in the Anne Kittrell Art Gallery.

“Siteworks: A Discovery of Place,” an exhibit of work by Fay Jones School of Architecture students, will be on display Feb. 7-21 in the Anne Kittrell Art Gallery, located on the fourth floor of the Arkansas Union on the University of Arkansas campus. An opening reception is planned for 6:30 p.m. Feb. 12.

The show will feature work by five architecture and landscape architecture students completed in an elective course taught last fall by Phoebe McCormick Lickwar, assistant professor of landscape architecture. Students exhibiting work are Nick Jabs, Hannah Hefner, Jose Garduno, Hector Bello and Robert Whittemore.

These students enrolled in the “Siteworks” course last semester to discover the power of photographic inquiry as a tool for researching sites, Lickwar said. Exploring a site of their choosing throughout the semester, they engaged in an intentional practice of photography as a way to investigate the landscape, analyze ephemeral conditions, discover formal relationships and challenge existing narratives.

This phenomenological approach to traditional site analysis reveals the intimate knowledge and connections to place that can be realized through photographic means.

“I created this course to give design students the opportunity to hone their photographic skills and develop new methods for understanding the site through photographic work,” Lickwar said. “The students really embraced the use of the camera as a starting point for generating fascinating work exploring the spatial, temporal and phenomenological aspects their chosen sites. The depth of understanding revealed in the work is exciting to see and has great potential as a catalyst for future design ideas.”

Admission to the exhibit is free. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.