Brown ’18, Gonzalez ’17 to Present Art Exhibit

A pair of University of the Ozarks art alumnus-Patrick Brown '18 (pictured, left) and Obed Gonzalez '17-have joined together to present an exhibit, "Machine in the Garden," at the University's Stephens Gallery throughout the month of October as part of the Artist of the Month Series.

The exhibit will be on display through Oct. 31 in the galley, located in the Walton Fine Arts Center. There will be a reception to meet the artists from 3-4:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 17, in the gallery.

Brown is a Wichita-based artist and art educator whose work bridges the traditional and digital realms. Drawing on a foundation in charcoal and classical value studies, he brings a strong sense of light and form into his digital illustrations. HIs imagery often employs deep, atmospheric shadows and luminous highlights to create a striking chiaroscuro effect that heightens emotion and drama. In addition to his studio practice, Brown teaches high school art, sharing his passion for visual storytelling and technique with young artists through courses such as art history, ceramics, and drawing and painting. His professional illustration work includes ongoing commission work for Sir Henry's Haunted Attraction in Florida, as well as cover art for a range of publications.

Brown said that "Machine in the Garden" is inspired by Leo Marx's idea of pastoral disruption-that moment when the hum of machinery breaks the stillness of the natural world.

"Machine in the Garden reflects on what remains when the boundaries between nature and human invention dissolve," Brown said. "Marx described the machine's whistle echoing through the quiet landscape as both promise and warning. My work follows that echo into the present, where the pastoral and the industrial no longer collide, but intertwine. Rooted in traditional charcoal technique yet realized through digital media, my imagery relies on chiaroscuro to express this tension. Light and shadow become metaphors for creation and interference, for the way progress illuminates even as it obscures."

Gonzalez is a graphic designer, educator, and active member of the Northwest Arkansas design community. He is a recent graduate of the Master of Design (MDES) program at the University of Arkansas, where his research focused on digital fabrication, the intersection of software, machine, and material. The research blended with Gonzalez's artistic focus on digital and vector-based illustration. He currently works in the world of water management, bringing his background in education and design to help keep water in communities across the country safe.

Gonzalez said the "Machine in the Garden" motif "focuses on evoking the disturbance of sublime nature through human expansion, specifically technological and infrastructural. The motif has stuck with me since my senior year here at Ozarks, when I had the opportunity to take American Romantic Literature with Dr. Brian Hardman. Its origin focuses on the sound of trains that encroached upon Henry David Thoreau's previously peaceful and isolated cabin along Walden Pond in his 1854 book aptly dubbed Walden or Life in the Woods. This motif inspired a visual essay of the same name, which I did as part of my master of design (MDES) graduate program at the University of Arkansas."

Gonzalez said that his visual essay "explored how much the city of Fayetteville is changing, precariously balancing its 'small town in the woods' aesthetic with ever-increasing expansion and gentrification. For a time, even though I lived less than a 10-minute walk from the Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium, I would see deer more often than my human neighbors. Those woods have become near-million-dollar homes and new 'reclaimed' nature trails that provide citizens with an 'escape' from urban life."

Topics: Alumni Stories