Art crossing countries: Franklin professor Rakic has work showcased worldwide
After war forced her to leave her home in Sarajevo, Bosnia in 1992, Svetlana Rakić decided to get her Ph. D at Indiana University.
What she brought with her was her passion for studying and creating art. For 16 years, Rakić, has lived, learned, taught and painted in the United States.
She visits her family every year; they now live in the neighboring country Serbia. But she was never been able to share her art with them.
"I show them pictures [of my work]," said Rakić, a Franklin College fine arts professor, "but I always felt a part was missing. What was most important for me was to share what I have done for the past 16 years in America with my family."
Rakić works with oils paints on canvases that can be as big as 4 feet by 3 feet. Considering she has dozens of paintings and the cost of insurance and shipping, she long believed it was impossible to take them to Europe. Fortunately for her, photography professor Susie Fleck offered some advice: Scan the paintings.
Normally scanning art and making prints of original, textured paintings, has been considered a poor substitute for the real thing. Paintings are far from two-dimensional. Most painters use the texture of brush strokes as carefully as they choose colors.
Scanning a painting is like taking a picture of a painting and showing it as the real thing. However, there have been advances in the scanning industry, to the point that it is possible to show prints in actual galleries.
But finding a scanner is no easy matter. In fact, there are only two places in the U.S. that have the equipment to scan large paintings.
"One is in the Getty Institute and the other is owned by Virtu Fine Arts – guess where – Indianapolis," Rakić said.
Truly a stroke of luck, but Rakić had a bit more in store. These prints, referred to as Archival Prints, are light and easy to transport, but very expensive. She was awarded funds from the Rinker Endowment for Faculty Excellence and a designated contribution from Stephen and Susan Leonard.
With new and transportable copies of her work, Rakić set off to Europe. She arranged for her work to show in two exhibitions. The first was in Freiberg, Germany; the second in Novi Sad, Serbia. Finally, Rakić could show her work to family and friends.
The trip was not just personal, though. Her work got major exposure. The Serbian exhibition was covered by two national TV stations, a 40-minute interview on National Radio, and several reviews by the nation’s top newspapers.
