The Art of Collaboration
Studio art majors in Dickinson's class of 2025 are hard at work creating new art for their upcoming exhibition. Photo by Rachel Eng.
Student-artists combine talents, approaches in midyear exhibition
Eleven creative visions and styles. Dozens of artworks. One overarching theme and one show. These are the challenges tackled by Dickinson’s senior-year studio art majors, as they get ready for their end-of-year group exhibition. On Nov. 20, they’ll present their works-in-progress to the college community.
Opening Nov. 20 at 5:30 p.m. in the Goodyear Gallery, the midyear senior studio exhibition showcases new works by the class of 2025’s Cat Acosta, Mbhali Edwards, Emma Rizzella-Roberts, Trudy Chung, Sophie Habecker, Phobos Hoang, Laila Gwathmey, Sophie Phillips, Alex Snyder, Geoffrey Ogenrwot and John Park. It's both a trial run and an appetizer for the students’ final Dickinson exhibition, to be held in The Trout Gallery in the spring.
All throughout their final year on campus, the students create new works inside their individual studios in the Goodyear Building. Close proximity to each other's workspaces makes it easy to share feedback and support. The students also benefit from regular critiques, courtesy of studio-art faculty and visiting professional artists, such as André Leon Gray, who served an artistic residency on campus this fall.
A senior seminar, spanning the fall and spring semesters, brings the students together more formally. Recently, the students have been researching and reflecting on the materials they are working with—where they come from, how they are created and how they are traditionally used—says Rachel Eng, associate professor of art & art history, who leads the fall portion of this year's seminar.
As they create their works throughout the year, the students learn about and collaborate on all aspects of creating an exhibition, from developing a theme to writing artist statements to designing the exhibition layout and catalogue to hanging and presenting works professionally. Along the way, they also gain experience in working on a large-scale and complex group project—a useful skill in any field.
The 2024 midyear exhibition runs Nov. 20 through Dec. 12 in the Goodyear Gallery. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday, 3-5 p.m., and Saturday from 2-5 p.m.
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Published November 15, 2024