Currently showing in the NLG: Senior Studio 2015

Posted on April 24, 2015

Come see the works of 19 seniors from their two-term intensive studio art class. The vibrant exhibit in the Nancy Lincoln Gallery features an array of mediums and captures the spirit of these young adults. You can watch a bit of their process here.

ARTISTS

Samuel Bacherman
Nadia Bednarczuk
John Caruso
Claire Chan
Mackenzie Donahue
Rachel Feldman
Valerie Fisher
Anna Fubini
Stephen Gousby,
Henry Hirshland
Jamie Kennedy
Charlee Manigat
Gabriela Marks
Anne Markstein
Samuel Radin
Daniel Sheets
Lina Sullivan
Alexander Volcy
Chloe Winston

MORE ABOUT SENIOR STUDIO
Sejal Patel, one of the teachers of Senior Studio, writes:

While Mr. Ingenthron and I taught the class, this class reflects the skills, expertise, and involvement of all the teachers in the Beaver Visual Arts department. For nine students in this Senior Studio class, their visual arts journey began in Ms. Winston’s Middle School art class.

As a whole, students in Senior Studio arrive with varied skills, ideas, and exposures in art. One unique thing about Senior Studio students is the confidence and the excitement with which they express their ideas and opinions about the art they see in the world and want to make. Most often their responses, reactions, and questions to the art they see and understand are not always expressed verbally but instead are subtly woven into their personal process and work in the class.

As they will tell you, their process of making art is not alway so straightforward. The most challenging part about art making is coming up with the idea and a lot of times students will begin by first identifying the materials they are drawn to or are curious about. After that begins the experimentation and visual realization of their final piece, which in this class started with a mini prototype. Of course its easy for me to say this in one sentence but it is certainly not that simple. It is many days of thinking, researching, experimenting, doubting, and working hard to finish something they are not sure can be ever “finished”. The transformation of their process, skills, and attitudes throughout the term is something that is not so clearly evident in their final product – and this is something they will remember and take away with them.

For the teachers, their final polished pieces as they now hang in the gallery are a reminder of their growth, dedication, and individual stories of success in the classroom. It was wonderful to see the very crowded gallery celebration at the opening reception, full of proud relieved faces who enthusiastically greeted friends, family, and community members.

If I had to summarize this group’s style in few words, I would say they are “cool, funky, and bold.” The vibrant colors, intertwined patterns, animals, pop culture, edgy rough materials and quiet hidden messages all providing an enveloping experience as we stand in front of it.

You might ask, now that the show is up, what happens now? In the next few days, the class as a whole will go in this gallery and sit with their pieces to self reflect on their process and individually pose for their artist portraits next to their pieces. Most importantly they will write a letter to the future Senior Studio students. This has been a tradition for many years. In the letter they will leave each new student with an individual art challenge project for their first week of class – much like their first week in Senior Studio.

Congratulations Class of 2015!

SNEAK PEAK
Here is just a small collection of the works featured in the show. Check out #seniorstudio15 on Instagram to see more images from the shows. We’ll be updating it daily!

Neon Vibes by Gabriela Marks Like Kanye Loves Kanye by Henry Hirshland
Sam Radin Where's the Food by Charlee Manigat Mind Blown by Annie Markstein
Transparency by Anna Fubini John Caruso