Rebecca Pempek explores the complexities of chronic pain and the American health care system in her thesis artwork.
By Sophia Melin, College of Arts and Sciences
One of artist Rebecca Pempek’s most vivid memories is of her artwork being published in her local newspaper when she was just five years old.
Her drawing, which depicted a backyard garden, was submitted by her grandmother, an art teacher at the local public school and one of Pempek’s earliest and most significant inspirations.
The newspaper clipping was proudly displayed on her parents’ fridge.
“I know it sounds cliché,” said Pempek, “but I’ve always been interested in art.”
This spring she will graduate with a master of fine arts in studio art through the department of art and art history within the College.
Pempek was drawn to UNC-Chapel Hill’s art program education because of its interconnectedness to other research institutions, both locally and nationally.
The Connecticut native has been recognized for her large, abstract paintings since high school. Pempek holds a B.A. in fine arts from Davidson College.
“All of graduate school is challenging in a really fruitful way,” she said, laughing.
The past two years have been especially challenging for Pempek who battles chronic pelvic pain and continues to pursue its underlying cause.
Through her work she explores the trials and tribulations of constantly being in search of medical answers. She aims to celebrate how far medicine has come while also investigating how women historically have been disenfranchised in the medical system.
As part of her thesis, she used her own MRI images and 17th-century reproductive anatomical illustrations to create works to represent her experience. What began as narratives meant to capture how she might respond if asked to describe her pain evolved into what she now calls her most earnest work yet.
For this year’s MFA thesis exhibition at the Ackland Art Museum, Pempek layered images of animals inside female anatomical drawings. Each print contains a different animal to represent a physical sensation such as a vulture pecking at a carcass on the side of the road or a snake coiling and then suffocating its prey.
The overall exhibition, featuring multiple students’ works, is called “Phantom Limb.” It examines the ways in which something can be missing while a legacy, aura or presence can still be felt.
“The prints represent descriptions of pain that are so visceral that you could imagine it, but obviously you can’t feel it. The abstraction in my painting gets at how pain destroys language in that way,” Pempek said of her own work.
The other half of her thesis work includes large-scale paintings and wood carvings resembling the human brain which were displayed in another thesis exhibition at the Lump Gallery in Raleigh.
The studio art graduate program requires students to take courses across different departments. Pempek took an anthropology class, “ANTH 473: Body and Subject,” with professor Emily Curtin which she describes as integral to her thesis and current creative process.
“Even though I didn’t realize immediately how important it would be, now it all makes sense,” she said.
During her time at Carolina, Pempek’s work has not only evolved thematically, but physically as well.
“I came in primarily as a painter, and now I can describe myself as both a painter and a printmaker,” Pempek explained.
Studio art students are also required to take a course on teaching pedagogy and then teach their own class. Pempek taught drawing to undergraduate students for two semesters.
“Having the responsibility of creating your own course and developing your own projects has been an invaluable experience,” she said.
Pempek recalls fond memories of the Hanes Visiting Artists Lectures, a program where established and emerging artists visit campus to discuss their work in public lectures and offer individual critiques to MFA students.
She appreciates the vibrant arts community in Chapel Hill and offers a piece of advice for emerging artists: “Creating some sort of art community is important, regardless of where you are. There is a special art scene here.”
After graduation, Pempek looks forward to having her work in two upcoming shows, one in Greensboro, North Carolina, and another in Portland, Maine.
While she is still in the process of searching for additional exhibition and research opportunities, she “always comes back to teaching.”
She believes that teachers can be incredibly influential in shaping students’ opinions and contributing to their education and future career aspirations.
“I always feel that the people who don’t have an art background have the most potential,” she said. “You don’t know until you get into the classroom and start making.”
Read this story at the College of Arts and Sciences website.