The Creation of the Annual Student Exhibition
Rethinking the Exhibtion
“How during a pandemic can we continue to share art and our stories with one another? ”
This project began in the fall of 2020. After undergoing the first wave of the pandemic, I was interested in creating a space to display and celebrate student accomplishments in a year full of challenges. I felt that being a part of the creation of the 2020-2021 Student Exhibition would be a perfect platform to accomplish this goal.
Due to the circumstances of the pandemic, it was decided that it would be best for the student exhibition to take place in an online space. While hosting the exhibition virtually was not what I had envisioned originally, an online platform does not have the same space limitations as a physical gallery does. This meant that more student work could be showcased.
With this advantage in mind, I wanted to include work from classes beyond the Studio Arts and Photography Departments and reconsider the definition of art. The projects and assignments created by students outside of “traditional” classes require just as much creativity and rigor to accomplish and I felt this would be an opportune time to showcase that.
The main requirement of this project was finding the marriage between the practical operations that go into creating an exhibition with the philosophical considerations of what is considered art. This exhibition showcases 76 pieces of student work across 6 different academic departments. In addition to this students from Professor Julie Sayo’s Web II class created the website that the work is being displayed on.
Included on this page are my personal notes as I underwent this project. They show both the practical and conceptual aspects that were required to accomplish this show. This project would not be possible without the guidance and expertise of Megan Rook-Koepsel (Director of the Julio Fine Arts Gallery) and Christopher Lonegan (Studio Arts Affiliate Assistant Professor).
Emma Hagelin ‘21
