the Informer

Ethan Bodnar

Disclosure: Ethan Bodnar is currently employed by The Informer as Information Technology Director.

This Friday, Hartford Art School sophomore Ethan Bodnar takes the role of curator in premiering his Creative Grab Bag exhibit in Silpe Gallery of the Art School.

Before “Creative Grab Bag” was ever in consideration for being a full-fledged exhibit, Bodnar came up with this idea and illustrated it using a book as his medium. Bodnar’s thought was to challenge artists to express their creativity in a new way, outside of the style of their normal body of work. In the book form of “Creative Grab Bag: Inspiring Challenges for Designers, Illustrators and Artists,” published August of last year by HOW, Bodnar features 100 artists, illustrators and designers who randomly chose an artistic task from a grab bag and executed it. “The artists from the book are from all around the world and were chosen based on what I found online through the vast creative community that exists there,” Bodnar said. According to Bodnar’s web site, the work in the book was done by both well-known and new artists and “challenge[s] readers to break out of their usual work.”

Bodnar developed over 30 different tasks to give to each of the contributors. The book displays images of the artist’s typical work, their task and a brief biography containing reflections on their creative processes.

After a successful book, the concept to translate the idea into a show was proposed to a committee at the Art School. After the show was approved, Bodnar began the process of selecting which artists to include in the exhibit. “They were selected so that there could be a wide variety of work in the show including illustration, design, sculpture and more,” Bodnar explained. The 100 artists of the book were synthesized down to just 20 artists for the show so the work featured should be quite interesting.

When asked what he would like for the students and faculty at the University of Hartford to take away from this exhibit, Bodnar said, “I hope that when the University community views the show they are challenged to explore their creativity. Everyone is an artist even if you’re not in the art school.” To make sure we do just that, incorporated into the show is an actual “Grab Bag” where viewers can randomly select a creative task for themselves.

It is clear that Bodnar is an ambitious student who won’t allow ideas to collect dust in his mind and wants to share his passion for creativity with everyone he can. As for the future, Bodnar has been considering a few ideas for new projects and possible books. Currently he is interested in design education and specifically the way in which graphic designers (like he) are educated.

Everyone can get in on the challenge of pushing your creative limits by viewing the exhibit when it premieres this Friday Feb. 19, at 7:00 p.m. in the Silpe Gallery of the Hartford Art School, or during the two weeks that the show will be on display until March 4, . Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.