Kentuck Gallery’s monthly Art Night will showcase a collection of prints by UA student Jacob Davidson.
Art Night features artists from the surrounding area, allowing them to display their works in a month long exhibit at Kentuck Gallery in Northport, Ala.
Davidson, a senior majoring in digital art and painting, said he will display his series of prints, called Toaster Boy.
“Toaster Boy is actually just a toaster headed robot,” Davidson said. “I thought of the idea several years ago and was finally able to start working on it this semester.”
Davidson said the series of prints are designed to tell a story about Toaster Boy, and he plans to recite the narrative in addition to placing dialogue cards next to the pieces at the exhibit.
There will be seven Toaster Boy prints and three other water-based paintings on display in his exhibit.
“This is my first semester in print making,” Davidson said. “I fell in love with it, but since I am graduating soon and won’t have the printing equipment, I’m trying to use it as much as possible.”
Davidson has been creating art on his own since he was child, but did not enroll in art classes until college.
“I jump around in art like a crazy madman,” Davidson said. “I’ve done everything from photography, painting, digital, drawing, sculpting, ceramics and printing. I enjoy it all, but printing I enjoy the most.”
Printmaking consists of transferring ink from different materials such as metal plates, stone or blocks of wood onto paper to create a print. The printmaking process can be used to create multiples of the same print, often called an edition, or can be used only once.
“The [printmaking] process is totally different than any other media,” Davidson said. “The process separates me from the final result, and I like it.”
Davidson was selected as one of Kentuck’s Full Moon Emerging Artists after participating in the Kentuck clay co-op and showing some pieces in their art fair.
The program was started in 2008 to help local emerging artists in high school, college and recent graduates by offering advice and experience from the art community.
“The program gives them the opportunity to have a month long exhibition and a professional photographer document their work for their portfolio,” said Valerie Piette, program manager for Kentuck. “It’s a type of scholarship program and the proceeds go directly to the artist.”
Piette said she is excited about Davidson being the first printmaker on display at Kentuck Art Night.
“It will be fun, fresh and different to see his work with a common theme of Toaster Boy and his contemporaries,” Piette said.
December Art Night will be Thursday from 5 to 9 p.m. and is free to the public. There will be live music by Allie and Mike Murphey, a cob oven pizza and handmade mugs with hot cocoa or coffee for sale to guests viewing the exhibit.
“I don’t think Kentuck will ever see any other toaster headed robots,” Davidson said. “They typically have a concentration on folk and fine art, whereas mine steps out of bounds. I’m interested to see how the Kentuck community reacts.”
