At 7:10 on Tuesday, Sept. 25, 20 or so people congregated to reflect upon the work of, Lorena Salcedo-Watson, one of Stony Brook University’s graduate students and an instructor of printmaking.

The gallery in Frank J. Melville Library was filled with groups of curious students and fans of Salcedo-Watson’s charcoal and watercolor pieces. Some talked with the artist, while I walked around detailing each piece. Most noticeably, each work has a natural link to the others, giving the show an effortless flow and an enjoyable critique from the viewer.

The show consists of seven different pieces, most of which have been completed this year for the show. According to the artist’s statement, she has an interest in the perceptions of the natural world and our human experience within it.

As you walk from one work to another, you first notice the size of the pieces. Most are drawn on large sheets of prepared paper and are imposing, some measuring five feet wide. Salcedo-Watson mentioned that she was concerned that the pieces were ‘not able to be framed’ after she completed one piece and actualized the size, considering that she would have to display and store the pieces.

She was calmed after talking with a colleague about how he displays some of his larger works. The pieces are all hung in gallery without a division between the paper and the stark-white wall. This gives an even greater contrast to the dark charcoal drawings of the pieces on display. Within the expansive boundaries of the sheets of paper are fine charcoal lines that seem to willow down and flow to a central space or spine of the picture.

With considerable analysis of the show, one gets an impression that these works have a natural inspiration and a natural theme. In a scientific context, the pictures look like microscopic images of the something living. The lines are not merely drawn, but are purposeful like the veins of a leaf. However, the lines are stylized and are beautiful to appreciate artistically.

When I learned of Salcedo-Watson’s inspirations were from Botany, Entomology, and Human Anatomy and her interests lay in the connections in nature, I realized that the impressions I received from admiring her work was one desire of the artist. Some constant details seen in different works and the continuance that is felt are pertinent once I learned that many of the pieces were designed from the internal structure of plants and humans.

The most memorable details of the night were not from what I observed, but from what I learned about the artists as she contextualized some pieces for me. One work present was particularly perplexing to me before I talked with the artist. The composition did impart a sort of emotion that the others did not.

The charcoal and watercolor piece titled ‘Juncture (meniscectomy)’ was the first work I observed and I found myself returning to it. When I talked with the artist, about fifteen feet away from the piece, she made referred to a knee operation she endured and served as her inspiration for the piece that hung on the wall behind her right shoulder.

Then, when I visited ‘Juncture’ again, the charcoal lines stressing away from two central points on the picture gave the conjecture of agony and meaning to my original exposition. Although the works are not titled at the wall, ‘Juncture’ will stand out, not only because of the beautiful, light teal color of the background, but because of the emotion picture conveys.

The artist had a very down-to-earth demeanor as we discussed her preliminary years before joining the Graduate curriculum at Stony Brook and her experience teaching printmaking. One work was particularly familiar to me, the piece titled ‘Passage (transitions),’ because it is the image on the advertising posters hung around the Staller Center for the Arts.

When asked why she chose that particular piece to, essentially, represent the show, she authentically said that it was the first piece completed and the printers needed a visual for the posters months in advance. This revealed a humble artist despite her obvious talent.

Salcedo-Watson’s talent is one to marvel at in the Melville gallery until Oct. 6 and, if the opportunity arises, she is an artist who is truly enthralling to talk with.