View all Class in the spotlight ArticlesSubscribe to the Class in the spotlight RSS Feed View all This Week ArtcilesSubscribe to This Week RSS Feed View all The Arts ArticlesSubscribe to The Arts RSS Feed View all Class in the Spotlight ArticlesSubscribe to Class in the Spotlight RSS Feed View all Sports Features ArticlesSubscribe to the Sports Features RSS Feed View all Professor of the Week ArticlesSubscribe to the Professor of the Week RSS Feed
the campous chronicle features footer
The Campus Chronicle Artifact Header
Poetter Hall was purchased by the SCAD founders in March 1979. Classes began in September of that year.  
The Campus Chronicle Artifact Footer

The Arts

Feliciano explores 'Wanderlust'

In “Final Cut,” graduate illustration student Danielle Feliciano combines graphite and charcoal with coffee stains to evoke the narrative of a pair of shears.

In “Final Cut,” graduate illustration student Danielle Feliciano combines graphite and charcoal with coffee stains to evoke the narrative of a pair of shears.

By Katie Wall
Published: Friday, February 15, 2008

Danielle Feliciano, a graduate illustration student at the Savannah College of Art and Design, keeps busy. Between going to class, creating glass jewelry and cooking Mediterranean food, she interns at Dimensions Gallery, 412 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in Savannah, and somehow also has found time to expand her recent body of work. “Wanderlust,” on display at Dimensions Gallery Feb. 15-20, is a solo exhibition by Feliciano that examines the element of human narrative over time.

To Feliciano, any object has the potential for narrative. “A movie ticket, a doorknob, a key and nearly anything else we discard are marks of humanity,” she said. These objects speak to human existence; they are artifacts of purpose with stories of their own, she explained. In her artist statement, she said, “The rust and decay that consumes these treasures becomes part of their story as well. In my work I seek to siphon the memory back out of these objects through the infusion of the tactile and the ephemeral.” For example, in a drawing titled “Final Cut,” Feliciano depicts the narrative of an antiquated pair of shears.

Feliciano adds expressive marks to her surface, and from those marks she lets the objects emerge over time. She said, “I find that rediscovery and identity both form as a result of memory and experience.” Feliciano’s process allows her to define her objects on paper and tap into their narrative. “By using the space above the paper, applying texture, integrating tactile objects and changing the format of an illustration I seek to capture everything that can be left out — the touch, the feelings and the nature of the memory itself,” she explained.

Including found objects — such as bottles, rusted metal and butterfly wings — as sculptural elements, Feliciano seeks to reference the world around her. She prefers objects with a patina of age, saying these recycled objects bring their own histories to her work. Occasionally, Feliciano re-works a finished piece of art to create something entirely different. While her work demonstrates a clear reference to Jim Dine’s tool series, she said her major inspiration is Robert Rauschenberg.  

To see “Wanderlust” in full swing, stop by Dimensions Gallery for a reception Feb. 15, 7-10 p.m. The gallery is a new exhibition space on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard owned and curated by SCAD photography student Cryselle Stewart. The gallery is dedicated to providing art collectors an opportunity to purchase fine art from emerging and undiscovered artists of Savannah. Read more on the gallery's Web site.


Wall is a project manager in the communications department.