Marywood Art Department Hosts Annual Foundation Year Exhibition

Marywood+Art+Department+Hosts+Annual+Foundation+Year+Exhibition

Photo credit/ Caitlin Ryerson

The Kresge Gallery in the Insalaco Center for Studio Arts is once again hosting the Foundation Year Exhibition. The exhibition, hosted by the Marywood Art Department, displays previous first year students’ work to current first year art students.

This year’s exhibition, which opened on August 23 and is running until September 24, kicked off with an opening reception on August 31 in the lobby of the Insalaco Center.

Since all art majors mostly share the same schedule, this exhibition is made up of pieces made in first-year level classes and that are chosen at the end of the year to be displayed the following fall.

“It is a way to show the incoming class the best of work from the prior year’s incoming class,” said Sue Jenkins, associate professor of art and Foundation Year coordinator.

According to Jenkins, most of the pieces in the exhibition will be made of inexpensive materials since the first year curriculum encourages students to experiment with trial and error on their pieces.

“We’ll see works on paper with charcoal, newsprint with charcoal,” said Jenkins. “There could be still-life paintings as well as sculpture made from cardboard, wood, wire, tissue paper or found objects. Anything the student makes.”

Bernadette Fertal, a sophomore art therapy major, has three pieces in the exhibition: a still-life color painting, a drawing of a pointillism pattern, and a bristle board lamp with cutouts of Celtic goddesses. This is her first collegiate art exhibition.

“I really love getting to see all of the work my peers create,” said Fertal. “It’s really exciting for me. I love seeing what people can come up with and how creative everyone can be.”

Sara Burgos, a senior painting major, was a part of the Foundation Year Exhibition during the Fall 2019 semester. She said she finds this exhibition to be very beneficial to the students.

“I think this [exhibition] is really important because I feel like this is, for a lot of students, the first opportunity to show their work and see it in a sort of professional setting,” said Burgos.

Burgos said she hopes to see more sculptures and 2-D design work in the show since she feels both are interesting but not showcased often.

As for Jenkins, she said she hopes that the exhibition gets more non-art majors interested in taking an art class. The Art Department is changing its curriculum to offer more classes for the general Marywood community to take.

“We would love to encourage everyone to come and sign up for some classes,” said Jenkins. “To get some art in their hands, to get a little dirty and have some fun.”

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