Art in a New Medium

"Home is Where the Art Is" was the name of a successful 2018 student-led campaign to restore and relocate Henri Etienne-Martin's work located in Governors State University's  Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park. This year the phrase has taken on a literal meaning for Bachelor of Fine Arts students at GSU.

With shelter-in-place regulations requiring classes to move to remote platforms, graduating art students are often finishing their final projects in their homes. Presenting and celebrating their work has offered up even more challenges.

Art professors are finding ways to review students' work remotely, such as professors Gretchen Jankowski and Rebecca Siefert, as well as Visual Arts Gallery and Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park Director Jeff Stevenson reviewing Tyler Santor's work (left) via video conferencing

Whether inspired or disheartened by the quarantine, the art reflects the state in which it was created, such as senior Santor's printmaking that captures the housebound blues with the caption “One day I’ll be my own master.”

Stevenson notes that this semester required extra creativity.

“We had to get creative in more ways than one for students to complete their work at home, work in the GSU art studios one at a time by appointment, and meet with their committees by video chat,” he explained.

Despite the circumstances, students' work will still be displayed in the Gallery as usual. Following CDC guidelines, the students will drop off their work individually by appointment to the Gallery for opening day May 11.

Alongside Santor’s printmaking will be Taylor Mezo’s and Kenya Moffett-Garner’s ceramics, Kayla Salinas' photography and digital pieces, and Crystal Thorns' drawing, painting, and glass pieces. Keep an eye out for the virtual tour of this new exhibition.