An exhibit of work created by 17 seniors opens today in the Edwards Center for Art and Dance until today. There will be a reception tonight from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Students worked on their pieces as part of Senior Studio, a course, which is designed to provide seniors with an opportunity to create their own individual body of work.
“All of a sudden, they’ve gone from having set structure and set assignments to really having to be their own driving force behind what they’re doing and why they’re doing it,” said Assistant Professor of Art Jackie Brown, who is leading the studio.
Throughout the semester, students developed their own works with the media of their choice. Students frequently critiqued each other’s work, and faculty were asked to give commentary on several pieces before their completion.
“[Each student], at the beginning of the semester, had a definite interest, and they had kind of honed in on that,” said Henry Austin ’16. “Then through the semester with critical feedback and conversations, they were able to open up and expound on some of those ideas that were very important to them.”
Students used a variety of media in the creation of their works, including projectors, suspended strings and old cars.
“All my work right now is surrounded by these objects that I found in a dump site in the woods nearby,” said Anna Reyes ’16. “[I was interested in] the strange role of me being kind of a rescuer for them but then also taking them out of their final resting place and that weird kind of tension.”
Not all students worked individually. Cody Stack ’16 and Hector Magana ’16 worked together on a series of works investigating experiences and concepts in nostalgia.
“I don’t think the challenge was me and Hector collaborating; it was actually taking the best of the two things that you do and making them work together,” said Stack. “I think we struck a really nice balance between Hector’s linguistic, photographic and pop culture knowledge and skills and how we relate that to the world around him and then some of the things I kind of aesthetically obsess about and the materials I like to play with.”
Many of the artists are excited about being able to display their own culminating work and to see the final projects of their peers.
“It’s been an incredible semester because the variety and breadth of the artwork that’s represented in this show is astounding,” said Austin. “It’s so much more valuable and so much more interesting if the people around you are approaching it and making work that is completely different, [work] you would never dream of making yourself. That’s been one of my favorite parts about this.”