Grad Art Show shows off Art Education

Art majors at The College of Saint Rose have a lot of patience. Aside from classes, their time consists of late nights at Picotte Hall, spending hours working tediously on pieces that may not be shown for months, if ever. All of this hard work becomes worth it when they are able to display the results of their passion in a public show.

Art work by graduate art students is on display through May 2 at Picotte Hall downtown. The first part of the two-week Masters Show at Picotte April 24th.

The latest opening Sunday hosted families taking pictures with the artists, friends discussing aspects of the pieces, and students gaining inspiration from the work. A signbook was made available for attendees to leave comments for the artists, as well as sign up for the art department mailing list. Price sheets were made available as well, but many of the pieces were listed without a price, only encouraging those interested to make an offer.

This week's show features drawings by David Dowd, photography prints by Stacy Milburn, etchings by Janet Zeigler, and ceramic works by Cathryn Hunt.

The first week of the series featured artists and graduate students Ashley Krohmal and Stacey Frasier, who are both ceramacists, as well as Sarah Maguire working with screen printing and etching, and Crystal Ellis, also a printmaker who works primarily with woodcuts

All the artists presented their pieces as a series, and are the result of a year's worth of work. Graduate art students at Saint Rose earn a Masters of Science in Art Education, but studio work is a large part of their studies.

"Saint Rose is unique in that there is a large studio component," said Dowd. He did his undergraduate work at SUNY Albany and graduates next month. He works primarily with drawings and oil painting, but decided on a drawing series for this show because oil painting requires a more specific studio space with proper ventilation.

"I can draw from my living room," Dowd said. He is now focusing on obtaining a teaching job, preferably at the high school level.

Maguire also commented on the combination of art and education in the graduate program at Saint Rose.

"I think the program is rigorous, but i see the value in having it be dually focused. The program acknowledges that an effective art teacher should be developed as both and artist and a teacher," said Maguire. Maguire, who was featured during the first week of the show, uses a process called screen printing to create her pieces.

"Screen printing is a print proccess that pulls ink through a fine mesh screen with a stencil of your image on it," Maguire said. "My prints are very layered, the images on top of and within images are very much a part of my concept but also show the wide-ranging capacity of the screen printing process."

The show was an opportunity for those who work primarily at the Saint Rose campus to see the work of the ceramicists, who do their studio work at Skidmore as part of a cross-enrollment program.

Krohmal, one of the ceramicists, did her undergraduate work at Alfred University in Alfred, NY. After completing her work for this Masters Show, it is only one short summer before another busy semester.

"I'll be student teaching in the fall," Krohmal said.

Janel Zeigler will also be student teaching in the fall. Her work consisted of etchings drawn on copper, and then printed into the pieces displayed in the show. She did her undergraduate work at SUNY Purchase.

Having the show split between two weeks allowed the artists to show more pieces, as well as to select artists whose work would fit well together. The first week of the show, Ellis had eight pieces, with the other artists having approximately the same amount.

"I think all of our work went well together, I think all four of us make work that has a sort of organic feel to it," Maguire said.

The second week of the show featured six pieces by Dowd, twelve by Milburn, nine by Zeigler, and five by Hunt, the lone ceramicist the second week.

The artists were well-received by those in attendance, and seemed happy with their success as they accepted congratulations from those there viewing the work.

"I was pretty pleased with the show. My only complaint would be that the show ought to have been up longer," Maguire said. "Hopefully when the Massry Center opens, with all its new space, future classes will be able to exhibit their graduate and senior shows longer."

© Copyright 2009 The Saint Rose Chronicle

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