Students get 'Fired Up!' about art exhibition
Biannual art show a chance for students to share with the community
One of the core values of the Brandeis student body is lifelong learning, the opportunity to become both teacher and student and regard every moment as an opportunity to share a learning experience with others for the advancement of the community as a whole.
For a segment of the community, such a moment came on the evening of Dec. 12 in the Dreitzer Gallery at the Spingold Theater Center, when senior art students opened one of the biannual showings of their work. The mid-year exhibition is titled “Fired Up!” It will be on display through Jan. 28, 2013.
Clare Churchill-Seder ’13 said “the reason that the name of this show is ‘Fired Up!’ is because one of our professor’s phrases – Professor Joe Wardwell – to get us to work is ‘Fired Up!’ and we respond ‘Ready to go!’”
A small reception of refreshments and the 20 seniors greeted students and staff as they entered Spingold. Many of the 13 painters and seven sculptors had worked with one another for several years, but they grew closer during this past semester, working in the studio on Prospect Street.
“I’ve been working with most of them since we were sophomores,” said Lenny Schnier ’13. “There are exceptions here and there for students who come in during the year, study abroad, etcetera, but for the most part I’ve been with the majority of the painters for two and a half years now.”
Students who pursue painting in their studio art major generally take a year-long course in "Beginning Painting" during their sophomore year, "Intermediate Painting" during their junior year and then "Studio Art" during their senior year.
Senior Sequan Born Spigner’s artistic growth developed differently. “I had been an English and creative writing major up until my junior year,” said Spigner. “I really fell in love with art after that year.”
Painters displayed three to seven of their works while the sculptors each displayed one.
“[My painting] comes from my own experience and various symbols that keep repeating themselves in my painting and my sketchbook,” said Sara Weininger ’13. “I definitely integrate a lot of what I learn in psychology and neuroscience into my painting. I take a lot of ideas and put them into my art.”
The seniors have one more exhibition, which will be held in May, to showcase their final projects. Schnier invested time in contemplating his last year in college and created “portraits of people in limbo position where they are finishing up undergraduate education and moving on to the next step. They try to capture the anxiety and the aggressive nature of that period in time in a college student’s life. Yes, it was definitely self-inspired,” he said.
Categories: Arts
