Campus Resources | Saint Joseph's University
This exhibit features student work created in the Introduction to Graphic Design classes. Graphic design students develop skills in visual organization, information hierarchy, branding, and typography. They develop an understanding of principles of color and composition. This exhibit showcases some examples of texture, letterforms, and menu design.
The senior art majors and minors present their theses in varying mediums and themes. This exhibit is the culmination of their yearlong art capstone course. These young artists express their identities and visions that they have developed through their experiences and instruction during the course of their college careers.
The series “2020”, depicts real social and political events in a surreal but comprehensive way. If you were to ask anyone prior to 2020, their expectations for that year, I doubt they would mention anything that occurred. Yet, most know what has happened is very important to history. With Covid, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the contested election results, this year has become a turning point in the world and in this country. I wanted to make this work to remember how I felt during this time. I believe some of the strongest pieces of art are made in challenging times and in the future become bittersweet reminders of our own history. I want to inform and connect with others and to express these thoughts and feelings through this series. My idea of using photoshop and having images that are unrealistic, exaggerated and leaning toward science fiction, is to epitomize the idea that at times these events have felt unreal or impossible, so it only made sense to execute these images in a similar fashion. I use stark white boxes in several images to show isolation, emotion and separation. I created all of my images in the studio out of sets, which allowed me a lot of control with details, color and props incorporated. I am sharing my own, my family and my friends’ emotions during this process, making it personal.
I began photographing my family when I was young. I always loved being both behind and in front of the camera. My current series, titled “Pieces,” will be presented this April. People around me inspire me everyday and I strive to showcase the beauty and complexity of everyday life, even while in a pandemic. I am inspired by photographers Mary Frey, Asheleigh Coleman, and Sarah Hoskins. My goal is to capture intimate moments of people that I love. Pieces will be exhibited as a salon style presentation, with images of varying sizes. This series focused on the main aspects of my life; work, school, and friends, all while navigating through a global pandemic.
Climate change is the most pressing issue of our time. Inaction is not an option. If we do nothing, humanity will die off. We already see the effects of our rapidly warming climate in our world today. In 2020 alone, we saw an increase in wildfires, hurricanes, and other natural disasters. The concentration of carbon in the atmosphere is at an all-time high in human history at 412 ppm. In August 2020, Death Valley reported the hottest temperature ever recorded. These instances will seem insignificant if we continue down the path we are on. If we continue on our destructive path humanity will cease to exist. We are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction, brought on by our own actions. However, if we act now, we can mitigate and perhaps even begin to repair the damage we have caused.
This series uses layered, laser cut photographs of our natural world with text about the climate crisis burned into the images. I am looking to highlight the beauty of our planet and at the same time, visibly show what we are destroying. I am photographing the beauty and wonder of the planet and juxtaposing my photographs with text about the climate crisis. The text, all taken from factual sources such as the New York Times and scientific sources, like NASA, allows the viewer to learn more about the climate crisis. The images in each piece connect to a particular habitat, place, or issue. This series is meant to educate and encourage viewers to look deeper into the climate crisis.
I have always enjoyed nature and the outdoors. My natural impulse has been to photograph beautiful places. However, at the onset of the project, I was determined to talk about climate change and not simply show beauty. Artists of all sorts, from photographers to painters have attempted to showcase the beauty of nature and encourage people to care about the environment. I decided to use the shocking statistics and facts to raise awareness in the hope that viewers would further educate themselves on the issues. The reality of the climate crisis is that what we do now, whether we act or do not act, will decide the fate of humanity.
Everyone has a story to be told and their stories are significant. On a daily basis we all have moments in our lives where we are interacting and interconnecting with each other. Feeling included in this diverse network of lives that construct our society, but at the same time conserving our individual uniqueness is what spawns’ new ideas and perspectives. The works in this series of drawings and paintings deal with the representation of diversity and inclusion. I have created a visual language of colorful geometric shapes that overlap and interweave. The drawings are done with the use of colored pencil on paper and the paintings are done with acrylic paint on canvas.
The hard-edged geometric shapes represent our personal identities. The varied shapes are playfully placed to interweave and overlap with each other while creating a balanced harmonious environment. The work references our diverse similarities and differences while taking into consideration our distinct personal characteristics. The translucent paint quality conceptualizes the framework of intersectionality as it relates to people’s identities and their experiences alone and with others. The vibrant bold colors are a representation of my own Mexican heritage and embraces the traditions which make up my identity.
My aim of this work is to challenge the viewer to examine what it means to be truly diverse and inclusive. The acknowledgement of the intersecting shapes incorporates the idea that everyone of us as an individual has had experiences of confronting discrimination and oppression. In creating these pieces, I want to bring about an awareness that although we are each different from one another, we can support, respect, value and empower each other. Each of our stories matter, and for this reason, the works are designed to be shown in whichever direction one chooses them to be displayed. Every viewer is free to experience the work how they choose and generate their own awareness of a diverse and inclusive society.
Traditions like Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism grabbed my attention and held it as I worked through the range of liberal art’s courses my english and philosophy degrees necessitated, as a student at Saint Joseph’s University. I had the opportunity to really dig into these philosophies, and as I did, I began to understand my art differently. Around the time that I was falling in love with ceramics and pottery, I was discovering a peculiar form of Buddhist aesthetics called Wabi-Sabi. As it turns out, Wabi-Sabi and ceramics are deeply and historically intertwined and I was quick to begin exploring the philosophy through my own work.
Traced back to 16th century Japan, Wabi-Sabi finds value and beauty in the imperfect. It praises things with rustic and non-uniform features in a conscious resistance to our innate gravitation towards perfection. Ceramic pieces in the style of Wabi-Sabi, like traditional Japanese tea cups, are visibly in a process of degradation and wear with the intention of representing the Zen ideals of nature, change, and individuality. I am currently exploring this combination of Wabi-Sabi and ceramics in my art minor capstone, where I hope to gain a deeper understanding of the forms and techniques of traditional Wabi-Sabi ceramics, while also developing my style and direction as a potter.
I love the idea of a process that naturally creates unique and unknown results. Entropy is a fundamental aspect of life and is a phenomenon that I embrace within my work. Everything that exists is subject to entropy and nothing ages without showing its effects. My aim is to create a body of work that relinquishes this struggle of appearances and perfection. Things have a fundamental tendency to change, to wear down. To hide from this fact is to hide from the world. My work is intended to stand as ceramic memento moris, each piece made unique and beautiful by their variances and imperfections. Authenticity is beautiful. My pieces are forthright and direct about their particularities and are intended to raise the questions like, “What are my disillusions?”, “What am I resisting that is out of my control?”, and “How can I be more authentic with myself and the world?”
Nature and biology have long been a source of mystery and inspiration for artists. The shapes and forms discovered under microscopes, in the depths of the oceans, and hiding in gardens feel otherworldly and beautiful in their strangeness. As humans we are drawn in by their elegant structures, sometimes at our own peril. For this assignment, students used clay and pinch pot building techniques to create sculptures inspired by organic forms from biology and nature.
Students explored different color schemes and traditional “opus styles,” or ways that mosaic pieces can be arranged, to create a specific type of rhythm and flow in a mosaic.
Face jugs can be found throughout history in Europe, Africa, Pre-Columbian America and especially in 19th century African-American folk arts. Fully-functional, it is said that slaves in the U.S. used the jugs for identity purposes on gravestones and to ward off evil spirits.
Professor Krista Svalbonas final project for her Commercial Photography class tasked each student to focus on social, political or environmental issues of importance to them. Each project follows an industry creative strategy brief which the students execute.
African Americans have always been given negative stereotypes. Occupation wise, we’re told that the only thing we’re good at is rapping or being athletes. Regarding these stereotypical activities, we’re also not taken seriously, being told that our opinions don’t matter, and we should only focus on what we’re “paid (expected) to do.”
In addition, the most mistreated and neglected individual is an African American woman. African American women are stereotypically seen as materialistic, “ghetto”, and only useful through a sexualized viewpoint.
“The meat and dairy industries are one of the largest contributors to climate change. I decided to focus on six major environmental effects of the industries. Each piece was shot using typical food lighting and used red meat (one of the largest contributors) and milk. The meat was shaped to talk about a specific issue.”
For my final project I wanted to focus on over-consumption in American culture. There has been a rise in ethical consumption from consumers, but ultimately there needs to be radical change from our government. Each photograph showcases a product or item that is consumed at high rates, with not enough regulation from industries. Topics include: plastic, deforestation, fast fashion, fossil fuels, meat consumption, and the harmful chemicals from technology.
I chose to style each photograph as if one was eating at a dinner table. I believe that the dinner table is a unique place in all households and offers a lot of insight on how people consume.
This course introduces students to the fundamental terminology, concepts, methodologies, and techniques of digital photography. It focuses on the principles of composition, lighting, and visual storytelling.
For this assignment, students were asked to work in two dimensions to construct an image that subverts the normal cognitive cues that suggest a logical spatial configuration. The most important aspect of this assignment was for students to create work that challenges both them and the viewer to rethink ideas commonly connected to photography. Students use, mirrors, foils, lighting gels and other objects to create these colorful, abstract pieces.
Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania
Sponsored by the Art & Art History Department and the Institute for Environmental Stewardship at
Saint Joseph’s University
The series Our Neighborhood juxtaposes sites of residential life in cities and towns across the
US from Texas to Pennsylvania, with the infrastructure of the petrochemical industry. If your
house is near an oil or gas well, a power plant or a refinery, you hear it, you smell it, you know it
is dangerous. It is however familiar. You are used to it. You accept it because either you have no
choice or it is your best choice. Either your grandparents built the house when they immigrated
from Poland or Mexico or this neighborhood is actually better than some others you can afford.
The sign “Poison Gas” somehow does not mean what it says and you put it out of your mind.
You are resigned to the dangers that threaten your future in exchange for a feeling of normalcy,
for convenience, for having a roof over your head right now.
We Americans all live in this house. This is our neighborhood, our home. Due to innovations in
hydraulic fracturing, the US is now the largest global producer of oil and gas, surpassing both
Saudi Arabia and Russia, at over 13 million barrels per day. The oil and gas business represents
about 8% of US GDP with over 10 million employees. At the same time, the burning of fossil fuel
is threatening to destroy life as we know it. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
issued a report in 2018 stating that the global temperature will rise 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit over
pre-industrial levels by 2040, causing calamitous worldwide damage. The need to reduce CO2
emissions is on a direct collision course with the expanding US oil and gas industry and its
stake in the US economy. While every single one of us emits around 15 metric tons of CO2
annually and uses alkanes, alkenes, naphthenes, benzene, butadiene, polypropylene,
polystyrene daily, the enormous infrastructure needed to extract, transport, and process these
petrochemicals is often easily overlooked. Each image in Our Neighborhood creates a visual
metaphor of what we all are living with, what we take for granted, and to what we have become
desensitized. Looking at the world we have created, without blinking, challenges resignation to
the status quo and climate change. It is a step towards action.
Goldsboro, Pennsylvania
Shippingport, Pennsylvania
Students in Traditional Photography learn how to use a 35mm camera and develop film. Once their negatives are processed, and due to the pandemic and social distance measures, students scan their negatives and work digitally to create final prints. They are given the freedom to photograph what they choose while meeting certain directives.
Every student in this gallery demonstrates their own individual style, theme and technique whether a beginner or a veteran. Not only were they able to take a photo that met the requirements of the assignment, but also demonstrated their potential in photography.
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Janine Gasarowski
Mikayla Carson
This collection of work was created by introductory drawing and painting students under the instruction of Professors Peter Bonner, Stephen Cope, Mary Henderson and Marta Sanchez.
The drawings are created with charcoal and pencil. Charcoal is an incredibly dynamic medium, it can be constantly changed and blended until the artist is satisfied. The softness of this medium lends itself to drawings focused on mass and movement of a subject. Charcoal is used for rendering the light, shadow, and contour of a subject. Many of the drawings displayed in this exhibition from Professor Sanchez’s class are life drawings. Students rendered these drawings from direct observation of a constructed scene in the Toland Hall studio. Still life is a popular genre of Western art and includes all kinds of man-made or natural objects, cut flowers, fruit, vegetables, fish, game, wine and so on. Historically, still life drawings and paintings can be a celebration of
material pleasures such as food and wine.
Madison Buddenboln
Students in Steve Cope’s online class created drawings in a photorealism style. To keep the assignment fun and interesting, students were tasked to take a photograph of themselves, friends or family making a crazy face. They studied the photographs and created a pencil and charcoal drawing focusing on proportions, shading and highlights so that the emotion was captured in the drawing.
Cait Jacoby
Josephine Biancaniello
Students in Mary Henderson’s online painting 1 class studied historical examples of trompe l’oeil still life paintings which is a technique that dates centuries back. Painters use realistic imagery to create optical illusions so that the painting appears to be a three-dimensional image. This is very popular with theater set design. Students then set up a shallow-space still life in their houses using everyday objects and painted the scene using the techniques they learned.
Sharon Mashkovich
Sara Garstka
The first six weeks of the semester Peter Bonner focused on language, shapes, structures, color, drawing so that students were familiar and conversant with the language of painting. For one assignment late in the term, Peter Bonner instructed each student to choose what they wanted to paint, with a few conditions, namely it had to be personal (from heir own life experience) and they had to be excited by it. Professor and student then entered into a dialogue together to work through and refine ideas before starting the drafting and final painting process.
This exhibit is a collection of pieces selected from the Spring 2020 Intro to 3D and Intro to Mixed Media classes taught by Professor Steve Rossi.
“Using simple materials such as paper, wood, wire and plaster, students work with form to create unique pieces paying attention to the details of volume and dimension. Through this exhibit, the students are able to express their understanding of form, essence and conceptual development.”
James LaSpina
Cast-plaster abstract self-portraits from the Intro to Mixed Media class were created by pouring plaster over the surface of clay slabs designed with positive texture through the mark-making of selected found objects. These cast-plasters were a series of three self-portraits meant to represent the artist’s past, present, and future self. Artists such as Piet Mondrian, Merriam Shapiro, and Jayson Musson were inspirations for this project.
Lizzie Wash
The planar forms, taken from a series of deconstructed drawings of previously created wire sculptures, are cut from cardboard and a class demo is given demonstrating how a slotting technique can create strong mechanical connections that do not need glue. A discussion is had related to relationships between positive and negative spaces, principles of three-dimensional composition, line, form, balance, rhythm, repetition, interesting sightlines from a variety of angles etc. The black and white two-dimensional paintings on cardboard included in the exhibition were created prior to the sculptures being painted, this exercise provided an opportunity for students to practice with the hard-edge painting technique and to explore various ways of incorporating the corrugation of the cardboard as an intentional design element.
Nate Tobey, Morgan Sullivan, Stephen Bradley
Also included in this exhibit are large-scale outdoor planar sculptures created by the Intro to 3D class. Working with a collaborative team, the assignment was to build a new planar sculpture in upcycled plywood, using slotted mechanical connections and incorporating an analogous color scheme in the green spectrum. Combining natural leaf forms of native species of plants, along with forms from earlier sculptures, to create a slotted sculpture that reaches a scale of 8 x 6 x 6 feet. This collaborative project was started during the spring 2020 semester the students got their pieces cut and the painting started. The coronavirus stopped progress for the duration of the spring semester. Nate Tobey, one of the collaborative group members, working over the summer and during this semester, has finished the painting surface treatments. The other group members are Steve Bradley and Morgan Sullivan.
Lauren Wiater
– Rowan Sullivan ‘21, Gallery Exhibition Research Assistant
Zack Firko
