With gallery exhibitions, seniors see why St. Mike’s ideal for budding artists

For the duration of the spring semester, the McCarthy Art Center at Saint Michael’s College will host several senior exhibitions as a capstone project for the College’s Art and Design majors. With the shows open to the public, the College looks forward to welcoming an array of friends, family, and community members to celebrate the students’ hard work.

This year, the exhibitions will display the full spectrum of what is taught within the Art and Design program at the College: graphic design, drawing, painting, sculpture, mixed media, photography, digital media, video, and any combination therein.

Although students typically work on their senior exhibitions for the duration of one college semester, Professor Brian Collier said most of these projects have in another sense been four years in the making.

Brian Collier

“These exhibitions are a major accomplishment for our students, demonstrating the skills and knowledge developed over their entire four years. They are a way to demonstrate the student’s ability to present a cohesive body of work in a professional venue where their work can, and often is, seen by professional curators, local professional artists and community members.”

The senior exhibitions are also unique to the College, Professor Collier said. At many other colleges, students are required to present their work in group shows due to a sheer lack of capacity. Saint Michael’s College, however, is fortunate enough to provide a professional venue for students to have solo exhibitions.

“In addition to making the work, students learn how to install their work in a professional gallery, design their own publicity materials, and to publicize their shows,” Professor Collier said. “All in all, this gives them a great set of experiences that are extremely beneficial to anyone who wants to pursue a career as a practicing artist or to get a position in a range of Art & Design jobs.”

 Meet a few of the artists…

“Chilltown Takeover” – Matthew Russell ‘23
January 24 through February 3 2023

To create “Chilltown Takeover,” Russell took inspiration from his home town of Jersey City, NJ. “The entire theme of the show was bringing what I missed and loved about home up to Vermont,” he said. “I had a goal to make a cool show, and I think I did just that.”

Overall, Russell said that he found the process of creating his gallery to be “fun and stressful.” He enjoyed the challenging nature of the process, but also was relieved to finish installing all of his pieces.

“One really challenging aspect through all this was, ‘what the heck is a gallery show?’” Russell said, jokingly. He explained that he just entered the art and design major during his junior year, but found only support within the department, allowing him to thrive.

“With all the support from the students and faculty, I was able to gain a lot more confidence in showing off what I think is cool,” he said. “The art department rocks. We are very close as a major and everyone actively supports and gives feedback to one another. It is really such a pleasure to be able to work with such talented classmates and dedicated professors.”

After graduation, Russell hopes to work in animation or find a way to expose art to children. He wants to show kids that art can be a viable career, if they put in the work.

“Markings” – Erikson Richard ‘23
February 7 through February 15, 2023

To create “Markings,” Richard utilized photos that she took during a trip to Africa in 2021. Using Photoshop, she edited these images to create unique prints with “lots of color.” In her gallery show, Richard used two walls to display both the edited and original prints for all of the photos.

“It was very challenging in the beginning because I wasn’t sure of what I wanted to do, so I did a lot of different things that I ended up hating, “Richard said. “But I finally reached a point where I felt good, so since then it has been a lot of work, but also a lot of fun,”

Overall, Richard appreciates the variety of mediums to which the art and design major has exposed her: “Painting, drawing, acrylic transfer, photoshop, illustrator, figma, photography, and so much more,” she said. “I feel so well-versed in all these different areas and I had fun doing it with all the great professors here.”

After graduation, Richard hopes to find a career in sports marketing.

 “The LOOP” – Margaret Krause ‘23
March 21 through March 31, 2023

As an abstract expressionist painter, Krause utilized acrylic paint to express her emotions through each piece. “Making these art pieces was reflective of how I look at life and what it could be,” she said.

Through the process of creating her senior exhibition, Krause said that she pushed herself beyond the limits of the art she had previously created. “I had fun experimenting with different colors and painting techniques. Overall I am looking forward to my final results and can’t wait to share my creations with the rest of campus.”

Krause said that her time as an art and design major at the College has prepared her to be a hard worker and great communicator in her professional career.

After graduation, Krause aspires to continue painting, travel, and live out west. “I love the idea that nothing is set in stone and I can make life whatever I want it to be,” she said.