An art gallery featuring paintings by Cindy Vojnovic was held in ESU’s Fine and Performing Art Center this past Wednesday. Vojnovic stated that she had gotten into painting when she was around three years old, after visiting an art exhibit with her parents, because she was “completely lost in the brush work”. Vojnovic’s paintings told the story of a forgotten steam-boat fire that happened on June 15, 1904. The sinking of the General Slocum, or the General Slocum disaster was the burning of a steamboat on the shoreline of New York.
Most of the people who died in that fire were women and children, meaning more than 50% of the total passengers had not survived. In an interview as well as in her artist statement, Vojnovic recalls having visions of the disaster during her first pregnancy before she even knew about what the disaster was. She recalls detailed imagery of people on fire, and a small boy “climbing a pole” to escape the flames. …show more content…
Cindy had used a style different than one she was used to, paying less attention to the tiny details but more so portraying the bigger message of the images. One of the most powerful images was of a male survivor who was holding an infant who had not survived. The colors portrayed that the male was indeed alive, but that the baby had not made it. This was an extremely powerful image to see because it expressed the depth and the gravity of the situation. The other paintings portrayed images of the boat before it had caught fire, the sinking of the boat, as well as those who died and had washed up on the beach. There were many other paintings that recreated many other scenes from the ghastly event. For those who are interested in seeing the paintings for themselves can visit it in the Fine and Performing Arts Center on campus through the 30th of this
Most of the people who died in that fire were women and children, meaning more than 50% of the total passengers had not survived. In an interview as well as in her artist statement, Vojnovic recalls having visions of the disaster during her first pregnancy before she even knew about what the disaster was. She recalls detailed imagery of people on fire, and a small boy “climbing a pole” to escape the flames. …show more content…
Cindy had used a style different than one she was used to, paying less attention to the tiny details but more so portraying the bigger message of the images. One of the most powerful images was of a male survivor who was holding an infant who had not survived. The colors portrayed that the male was indeed alive, but that the baby had not made it. This was an extremely powerful image to see because it expressed the depth and the gravity of the situation. The other paintings portrayed images of the boat before it had caught fire, the sinking of the boat, as well as those who died and had washed up on the beach. There were many other paintings that recreated many other scenes from the ghastly event. For those who are interested in seeing the paintings for themselves can visit it in the Fine and Performing Arts Center on campus through the 30th of this