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MURRAY, Ky. 鈥� The Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) River Campus Arts Annex and Complex in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, is currently featuring a solo show of paintings by Danielle Mu啪ina, assistant professor of Art & Design at 糖心logo入口. The exhibit, titled 鈥渢he skies are full of them,鈥� is on view through March 23. 

The SEMO show marks the first exhibit of 2022 for Mu啪ina, who experienced a prolific 2021, participating in 14 regional and national shows and receiving an Artistic Excellence Award from SECAC (formerly the Southeastern College Art Conference), a non-profit organization that promotes the study and practice of the visual arts in higher education on a national basis.  The SECAC Artistic Excellence Award is given to recognize, encourage and reward individuals who have been particularly successful in their creative work as demonstrated through regional, national or international exhibitions or presentations.

鈥淲hen I received news of the award, I was shocked,鈥� said Mu啪ina, 鈥渂ut the recognition actually made me feel really seen and validated for the hard work and commitment I鈥檝e put into this project and my creative work in general.鈥�

The works featured in 鈥渢he skies are full of them鈥� and her 2021 exhibitions are part of a series of paintings Mu啪ina has titled Pink Apocalypse. The figurative paintings focus on the intersection of gender performance and domestic spaces. Women in the paintings convene on porches, lawns or other domestic frontiers and interact in the spaces, preparing for or reacting to an apocalyptic turn of events, which is often suggested by the sky鈥檚 unnatural shade of pink. Recurring motifs, characters and visual elements appear within the series, such as diamond forms, the color pink, a six-foot trough big enough for a body and a villain-heroine self-portrait of Mu啪ina in a Peter Pan collar dress.

鈥淭he imagery in Pink Apocalypse was born from intuition and urgency, and the narrative in the series isn鈥檛 linear,鈥� Mu啪ina said. 鈥淔or me, building a world and story that is temporally open like this offers a broad range in mood, suggestive uncertainty about my characters and their intentions, and room for my audience鈥檚 imagination.鈥� 

For Mu啪ina, the greatest challenge of working in a series is avoiding redundancy while also maintaining unity.

鈥淚鈥檓 in a weird space where I鈥檓 shifting my attention within the work, and so there鈥檚 of course the question of, 鈥業s this still related to the broader series, or is it becoming its own thing?鈥� But I鈥檓 grateful for those questions, because they are productive and motivating,鈥� said Mu啪ina.

Mu啪ina traces her love of painting back to her grandfather, who was an artist and illustrator before fleeing his home in Krk, Croatia due to political reasons when it was a part of former Yugoslavia. Mu啪ina鈥檚 grandfather and grandmother who met at a displaced persons camp in Italy, eventually settled in the United States, and subsequently helped Mu啪ina鈥檚 young parents raise her.

鈥淎t that time, my grandfather had a job as a delivery person for a local pharmacy. When he would come home on his lunch breaks, we鈥檇 draw together. He had one customer who worked at Sherwin Williams, so he would bring me a bunch of paint swatches that I would collage with - that was my favorite, and arguably the most painterly,鈥� said Mu啪ina. 鈥淎s I grew up, I think there was something in me that needed painting as a visual language. Coming from a bilingual household but going to school in English, I slowly lost my Croatian, and I had this persistent feeling like words were not enough. I think that element of loss motivated me to chase after some other form of expression. Through painting I discovered I had the power to represent the recognizable world in such a way that it was embedded with not only my way of seeing, but also my way of feeling, and gave me space to make that be seen.鈥�   

As an educator, Mu啪ina impresses upon her students the important role that artists play in recording, interpreting and shaping history.

鈥淢aking art in any format can be an act of agency and awareness building, resistance and empowerment; artwork itself is an important historical document and culturally significant, meaningful artifact that has power to impact makers and viewers alike, whether in the present or the future.鈥� said Muzina. 鈥淎rtists are important witnesses of lived history from multiple viewpoints and can make valuable contributions towards expanding the ways we as humans can see and access their environments.鈥�

For more information on Mu啪ina鈥檚 work, visit her website . To learn more at 糖心logo入口 State鈥檚 Department of Art & Design please visit .