Senior art shows open April 10
The 2022 senior art shows feature works by nine studio art majors and includes painting, drawing, video, and ceramic work.
An opening reception for the displays will be held from 2–4 p.m. on April 10 in the Peter Paul Luce Gallery in McWethy Hall, Cole Library, and Hall-Perrine on the second floor of the Thomas Commons. The shows will be on view from April 10 through April 22. The gallery is open Monday–Friday 9 a.m.–4 pm, and Sunday 2–4 p.m.
Each artist’s show presents a culmination of the year’s work, with a large variety of media and subjects displayed throughout the pieces. The shows are free and open to the public.
Madeleine Althoff has created her show, “Tower of Strength on the Old Farmstead,” which consists of nine ceramic place settings that convey a self portrait based on heritage and immigration with the underlying weaving of generations. Her exhibition will be on display in Peter Paul Luce Gallery.
Christian Bellmore’s show “Slice of Life” will be presented in Cole Library. It’s a comic series about stuffed animals navigating their lives, as well as their struggles with mental illness. The characters also have 3D forms that will be part of the show.
Hanna Bergsten explores the things that change and reminds us of those that stay the same in her show “Ode to the Things That Fly Away.” She describes her body of work as a delicate, authentic, and emotionally raw display of grief and faith made tangible through handmade paper, paper casts, and drawings. The show will be housed in Hall-Perrine, Thomas Commons.
Ella Fogarty has created her exhibit “Now Live With It” as she finishes her senior year at Cornell College. It will be on display in the Peter Paul Luce Gallery. Fogarty describes her show as “a collection of collages constructed from a variety of magazines from the ’50s and ’60s, as well as other found material and original material. Through this work, I explore how the pervasive idea of the ‘American Dream’ and the performative strive for that ideal clashes with the reality of day to day life, especially in the modern world.”
Olivia Houchins-McCallum will present her show “Girls Are Not Machines” in Peter Paul Luce Gallery. The exhibition is a collection of 13 wheel-thrown ceramic vessels. The exhibition explores themes of sexism and gender expectations through domestic objects.
Julien Victor Michel Moisan will present his senior show, “Writing on the Wall,” in Peter Paul Luce Gallery. He says the work is primarily concerned with art’s ability to preserve memory. “I use paint, notebook paper, and charcoal in a loose manner to evoke the looseness of memory. I am inspired by graffiti artists in that their work is often focused on the preservation of their individual identities in public spaces. My artwork, like graffiti, is painted on walls in order to preserve the monumental scale of graffiti artwork.”
Meena Rathje’s show “Anything,” will be on display in Peter Paul Luce Gallery. This artist says, “My show is a video installation about anything and everything. What does anything mean? Where do you draw the line? Can anything mean anything? With a word so broad, the possibilities are endless.”
Spencer David Sallee presents “Colorful Combinations” in Cole Library. It will include a variety of wheel-thrown pottery bowls with similar outside glazes. On the inside lies different varieties of color that completely make each piece stand out from one another.
Bev Hawley will be displaying her work in the light boxes of McWethy Lounge.
All Cornell senior studio art majors receive their own studio spaces and prepare exhibitions consisting of entirely fresh bodies of work in the mediums of their choice. They propose their exhibitions before the department faculty, mount the exhibitions, and advertise and defend their shows in front of the art and art history professors.
