This year’s class of 2014 Senior Studio is coming to a close and their work will be on display in the Nancy Lincoln Gallery beginning next week.
Rebecca Roberts, Visual Art Department Head discusses the work of the 16 senior students:
The Senior Show is the culmination of a class called Senior Studio. This class is a department wide effort. It is taught by myself, Ms. Patel, and Mr. Ingenthron, but also 5 of the 16 students in the class began their visual arts studies at Beaver with Ms. Winston in the Middle School.
Whenever you see an art exhibit, just like when you see a play, hear a concert, read a book, or watch a football game, you are missing out on all the hard work that led to what’s in front of you. Understanding the process that makes the product makes the experience that much more interesting, impressive, and meaningful. What we’re hoping to do today is to share with you what happens behind the scenes in Senior Studio so that you can better appreciate the exhibit in the gallery.
I will start by telling you that these 16 students have worked very, very hard. They have worked hard physically, mentally, and emotionally and it has been a privilege for Ms. Patel, Mr. Ingenthron, and I to witness their growth. They have challenged themselves and each other to be innovative and to be true to themselves. This is an artistically diverse group of young people. Some have been studying art their whole lives and some have seen themselves as artists only in the last year. If you had wandered through The McElwain Studio over the last five months you would have seen them drawing, spray painting, breaking glass, gluing bits of candy to pieces of paper, making collages, and building things. You would also have seen them asking each other for advice, writing about their ideas, reading, searching the internet for inspiration, having meltdowns, grieving college rejections, celebrating college acceptances, staring at the wall, pounding coffee, and complimenting each other on good work. They had to figure out how to start, when to finish, when something was working, and when to scrap what they were doing and move on.
Get a glimpse behind the scenes in Senior Studio and see all the hard work that led to this year’s annual Senior Show in The Nancy Lincoln Gallery, on view from April 23 to June 8, 2014
The two works of art in the gallery that really catch my attention are the Fox paintings and the album covers, they are so different, one is natural and is obviously nature inspired while the other is very modern and simple. I love nature and foxes, that is why the fox paintings are probably my favorite and the cutout drips remind me of birch bark, the album cover one is my second favorite because I love music and although I do not listen to those particular albums, I just love the idea of giant albums covers.
Looking at Jaime’s piece, you get this sense of peace because of the Bonsai trees and the calm backgrounds. What caught my attention about Jamie’s piece was the fact that he used a video. It made it stand out and the images and the photoshop were really clean. I like that you can stare at Jamie’s piece and relax. I also really like that he added the Bonsai trees outside to really give the piece a sense of space outside of the computer. I think my biggest question looking at this piece is: Why did he decide to superimpose himself onto the video to communicate his own state of mind? Other than that, I thought his piece was one of the most unique pieces in the gallery.
I really like Dan Sheetz’s art installation because it is really relatable, especially after reading his artist statement. I think it encapsulates and sort of critiques how art is normally seen as a certain type of thing. It certainly makes you question what art is and who is responsible for creating it. I think his piece is really open and able to draw the viewer in because we all recognize the items he put on the table. I think my biggest question looking at the piece: Is why did you choose to write ADHD on the sheet of paper?
Initially when you look at the two different pieces, they seem so different. They are using different mediums and even the meanings of the pieces are very different. I feel that Jaime created his piece to share the joy of mediation with people while Dan wants to unapologetically express himself. Despite all those differences, I think at the heart, the two pieces come from the same place. Both of the pieces push at the boundaries of art (Jaime with his photoshop overlays and Dan with his meaning). In addition, each piece wasn’t afraid to stand out.