Student artists present work Tuesday

At 4:15 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 10, three of the senior majors in the Department of Art and Art History will present research to the campus community. The talks will be in Rodman 147, and feature Brian Kollatz, Amanda Mueller and Jeremy Brouwer.

Among the talks will be “Emptier than a Plastic Bag: An Elephant on My Mind,” presented by Kollatz ’14. He says there is no meaning at all behind the name of his work.

“I simply want people to create their own meanings that I hope will change how they view certain aspects of their own lives,” he says. Kollatz will discuss artists who influenced his project. They include artists who use plastic bags as a medium and artists who create large outdoor sculptures that he describes as “Wow! Art.”

Besides his interests in cooking and eating, Kollatz had been creating art since he was a child. He says that Ripon College has allowed him to create many more artworks than he did during his childhood and adolescent years.

“I am proud of all of my artworks,” he says. “My favorite is the wood carving that I did last semester in the Sculpture 2 course. I carved a face into a log and then proceeded to stain the wood. This was my first attempt at wood carving, and it was definitely worth the effort. I proved to myself that I could conquer anything I put my mind to.”

As a triple major — in business management, economics and studio art — Kollatz is busy. “Managing three majors has been really difficult,” he says. “I was able to do this by becoming very good at time management and urging myself not to procrastinate. I also had lots of supports from my friends and family who helped to motivate me.”

Last summer, Kollatz had an internship as a recruiting intern for Hatch Staffing Services in Milwaukee, Wis. He was involved in phone screening, interviewing and hiring workers. He was able to use his creativity to help make a vital change in the company when he presented an idea to the owner and president. He also assisted in a Social Media Madness competition conducted by The Business Journal of Greater Milwaukee.

“As a team, our company managed to make it to nationals and take eighth place,” he says.

When he presents his artwork on Tuesday, Kollatz says, “I will reveal a potential artwork that I may be making in the future. Hint: it’s large and outdoors!”

-Tsering Yangchen ’14
Madison, Wis.

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To learn more about the Art Department at Ripon College, click here.

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