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