Christopher Nadaskay believes in the idea of the cathedral: “art that will last.”
This idea inspired Nadaskay, a Union art professor for 20 years, to create his show “Of Moths & Rust,” displaying this month at Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson.
The show, which will display in the Troy Plunk Gallery until Feb. 27, features about 40 multimedia pieces, meant to represent artifacts from our culture unearthed thousands of years in the future.
Nadaskay said he got the idea from witnessing contemporary culture’s glorification of technology, despite its ever-changing nature.
“There are files I had 20 years ago that I can’t even open today,” he said. “What that tells me is we’re banking our culture on something very impermanent.”
He added that archaeological finds generally reveal much of a culture’s art and architecture, but little to indicate what its daily life was like. If such artifacts are found, determining their original functions is nearly impossible.
“Those are the kinds of things that I think would happen with our culture,” Nadaskay said. “If 2000 years goes by for us … what will they find? We have lost that sense of making something that will be a legacy for our children and grandchildren.”
Four years in the making, “Of Moths & Rust” features a variety of pieces, mostly fired ceramic clay with acrylic media. After the show, Nadaskay hopes to sell the pieces, which will be displayed in Union’s art gallery later this spring.
Senior art major Katie Williams, one of Nadaskay’s students, said seeing professors display work is “encouraging … It helps us to pick their brains a little bit, because in class you can only get to know them so well, and when you see their work you see that they’re a lot like you in that they have certain things they’re passionate about in art and in subject matter.”
Williams described Nadaskay as kind and patient with his students.
“He’s very good at asking the students what they want to learn and pursue and making sure he addresses those things in class, Williams said.
Lee Benson, professor of art and department chairman, said he has known Nadaskay for 18 years.
“He can always be counted on to be the voice of reason in every situation,” Benson said. “I count him as probably the closest colleague I have on campus. He’s a great sounding board.”
He praised Nadaskay’s commitment to the integration of arts and faith.
“I look forward to being at his show and supporting him at his reception and encouraging him to keep being the great intellect that he is,” Benson said.
Nadaskay hopes viewers of his art will realize that “there is a reason and purpose to art within culture,” such as communicating truths about God.
“It’s that moment of transcendence [when viewing art] that can alleviate much of the pain and the suffering and the anguish and the sin and all those things that captivate people,” he said. “If only for a moment I can make a difference in somebody’s life … then to me I’ve done something of lasting value.”
Nadaskay said he hopes to teach his students the value of art that endures.
“When you make a work of art it needs to be made in such a way that it will last, and that it can have that same impact to future generations,” he said.
