Christopher Anderson, junior communications major, writes down his thoughts about one of Ashton Ludden’s, senior fine arts major, prints at her opening art reception MEAT in Gilson Gallery on Friday. JONATHAN ELLIOT/THE BULLETIN

Ashton Ludden, senior fine arts major, held the opening reception for her show, MEAT, in Gilson Gallery on Friday. The show will continue to run until Sept 18.

The reception ended with a silent auction outside the gallery. One engraving piece, named “Food Stamps,” was completed by Ludden in 2008 and sold to the last bidder for $200.50.

Ludden’s art works displayed in her Senior Thesis Exhibition are mostly engraving and printmaking pieces.

The inspiration of making “MEAT” came from a conversation which Ludden had with a worker in a slaughterhouse the summer before, listening to his experience working on food processing.

“Before that morning, I never heard about how my food is processed and what goes behind it,” she said. “It really interested me that I knew so little about food, you know, such a vital thing for us to live.”

Since then, Ludden realized that the more she thought about food, the less she felt she knew about it. Thus, Ludden decided to start researching what goes into food processing in order to acknowledge the food processes, as well as gaining insights for her art.

Ludden studied food processesing through numerous readings and speaking with people in the meat industry.

“I have had a lot of interesting experience running into people in a town like Emporia, where there are a lot of local ranchers and farmers,” Ludden said.

For Ludden, MEAT was supposed to make people think about and acknowledge the food processing industry.

“The concept is really cool,” said Kiwamu Otsuka, physics major, after viewing the gallery.  “I didn’t think about meat, animals, creatures and stuff like that before. It makes me feel like I should know more about animals.”

Ludden initially came to Emporia State planning to study art therapy. She discovered that she was more interested in creating art and gradually found her gift in engraving and later her passion for printmaking.

After graduating from ESU in December, Ludden will accept an invitation from master engraver Martin Strolz in Höhere Technische Lehranstalten (HTL, also known as Higher Technical Institute) Metal Design School in Steyr, Austria.

She also plans to continue her studies in graduate school after studying abroad, pursuing her Master of Fine Arts degree in printmaking.

The proceeds of the auction will be split in two. One portion will go to The Humane Society, which is a national non-profit organization that celebrates animals and confronts animal cruelty. It protects all animals, through legislation, litigation, investigation, education, science, advocacy and fieldwork, according to their Web site.

The other portion will benefit The Kansas Rural Center, which supports the rural land and its people through research, education, and advocacy, according to KRC’s official Web site.

“MEAT” will still be available in Gilson Gallery located on the first floor of King Hall until next Friday.

Xinyi Chen/The Bulletin

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