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.
Paper Mosaics
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
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.
Commercial Photography
Student Work
January 25 – February 25, 2021
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.
Sophia Dell’Arciprete “Birthday Cake”
Annie Meko “The Collector”
Diego Ramirez “Alice in Wonderland”
Alyssa Farrell “Brownie Delight”
Nasir Chandler
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.”
“They tellin’ n***** sell dope, rap or go to NBA, in that order. It’s that sort of thinkin’ that been keepin’ n***** chained at the bottom and hanged.” – J. Cole (from his song “Immortal”)
“It’s always unwise to seek political advice from someone who gets paid $100,000,000 a year to bounce a ball…shut up and dribble.” – Laura Ingraham (Fox News host who responded to Lebron James and Kevin Durant’s opinion on Donald Trump)
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 most disrespected person in America is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America is the black woman.” – Malcolm X
“In American society, black women are the most ignored but yet the most idolized. Black women are taught to fit into societal standards to be beautiful but in the same breath take everything they have naturally and try to make it 100x better on other people. Black women are seen as materialistic and sexual beings. As a black female people look at me and see a sex symbol but also someone who only wants money. Black women are looked down upon in American society and it’s time for a change.” -Justine Jones (a friend who gave her outlook on the mistreatment of black women)
Alyssa Farell
“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.”
Sophia Dell’Arciprete
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.
Digital Photography I
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.
Our zoom webinar took place on Wednesday, February 10.
You may view the recording here.
Our Neighborhood: The Petrochemical Industry in America’s Backyards. A discussion with artist and activist, Robin Michals and Edward Weiner of Philadelphia Department of Health’s Air Management Services.
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.
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.
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
Artist Talk, Friday, September 11, 4pm.
To reserve a spot in person, please email jbracy@sju.edu. There will be a 20 person limit. Click the registration link to attend the event virtually via a zoom webinar.
Lavett Ballard is a contemporary artist who uses collage to interrogate presumptions about race, gender, and perception. Her collages combine archival photography, magazine cutouts, and a wide range of materials, such as copper foil, wax, and even hair, and she adheres them to particle board, birch, and even old fences. Her process welcomes accident, which highlights their materiality. Ballard’s collages put past and present into dialogue with each other and encourage viewers to look more closely while at the same time taking in the picture her various sources create. The artist conducts a great deal of research to find her images, and the story behind the person is just as important, if not more important, than the image itself. In Ballard’s images of women, the women tell their own stories.
– Emily Hage, PhD.
Chair, Art and Art History Department
Associate Professor, Art History
Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine,
2019, 48 x 24 ″
Mixed Media/Collage on reclaimed wood
Legacy,
2020, 24×36″
Collage/mixed media on reclaimed wood
Broken yet Healed,
2020, 36 x 48 ″
Collage/Mixed Media on hand carved birchwood panel
The Shaman,
2020, 36 x 24 ″
Collage/Mixed Media on hand carved birchwood panel
Erasable Beauty,
2016, 60 x 30 ″
Mixed Media/ Collage on chipboard
Her Point of View,
2017, 36 x 40 ″
Mixed Media/Collage on reclaimed wood
The Givers,
2020, 24 x 30 ″
Collage/Mixed Media on hand carved birchwood panel
We Shall Not be Moved,
2020, 36 x 40 ″
Mixed Media/Collage on reclaimed wood
Resistance,
2019, 24 x 30 ″
Collage/Mixed Media on hand carved birchwood panel
Natural Woman,
2018, 41 x 36 ″
Mixed Media/Collage on reclaimed wood
Her Name is Kizzy,
2018, 22 x 34 ″
Mixed Media/Collage on reclaimed wood
Redbone,
2019, 18 x 24 ″
Collage/Mixed Media on hand carved birchwood panel
Blues Baby,
2018, 22 x 34 ″
Mixed Media/Collage on reclaimed wood
1955: The Bus Riders, Demanding Dignity was created by mixed-media artist Lavett Ballard for the cover of TIME magazine as a part of their 100 Women of the Year in History project. Ms. Ballard described the moment that she received the email from TIME magazine commissioning her to create a piece for the project as “surreal”. She thought that the email was a prank but then went on to speak with D.W. Pine, the Creative Director of TIME magazine, two days later.
The piece is constructed on reclaimed wood fencing and features a color palette of gold, purple, blue, yellow, and white. Rosa Parks is featured in the center. Ms. Ballard was allowed almost complete artistic freedom with the project. Ms. Ballard was only instructed to highlight Rosa Parks and the other women who started the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955; Aurelia Browder, Claudette Colvin, and Mary Louise Smith. All of these women were arrested for sitting in front of a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Ms. Ballard’s work features women who go unrecognized which is why she was the perfect fit for this project. Other unrecognizable women are featured in this piece from newspaper cutouts. Of these women Ballard says they “had a life, a family, and it has been erased. All there is is that snapshot that tells a little bit of their life story.” Ms. Ballard uses wood fencing as a canvas for her pieces due to the connection she identifies between wood and history. She believes wood is “stuck in time”, making it the perfect backdrop for this historical piece. The yellow roses build the narrative of the artwork because they were used a symbol of freedom during the Civil Rights movement. Ms. Ballard said that she wanted to use the term freedom without including the actual word in the art. Around Rosa Park’s head is a gold halo or crown. Ms. Ballard likes to make the women in her work look like goddesses, making these women who have gone unrecognized look powerful. The background of the piece is meant to look like a starry night.
Ms. Ballard called the release of the artwork on the cover of TIME “bittersweet” due to it coinciding with the COVID-19 Pandemic. She hopes that soon people will be able to see the artwork in person to fully appreciate it. Saint Joseph’s University is the first public display of this piece as well as Broken Yet Healed, The Shaman and The Givers.
~ Elisabetta Mannello ‘21
Gallery Exhibition Research Assistant
Timeless, 2019
11 x 13 ″
Collage/Mixed Media on wood slice
The Descendants, 2019, 12 x 11 ″
Collage/Mixed Media on wood slice
Sitting with the Ancestors,
2020, 11 x 14 ″
Collage/Mixed Media on wood slice
My Name is Sandra, 2020, 16 x 12″
Collage/Mixed Media on wood slice
Whatcha Lookin’ At?, 2020, 16 x 12″
Collage/Mixed Media on wood slice
My Name is Kiyonna, 2020, 10 x 8″
Collage/Mixed Media on wood slice
Hidden Figures,
2020, 10 x 11 ″
Collage/Mixed Media on wood slice
Just Breathe,
2020, 11 x 13 ″
Collage/Mixed Media on wood slice
My Name is Atatianna,
2020, 16 x 20 ″
Collage/Mixed Media on wood slice
Dark Princess,
2020, 11 x 9″ Collage/Mixed Media on wood slice
Call & Response, 2020, 11 x 10 x 1 ″
Collage/Mixed Media on wood slice
Behind the Veil,
2020, 10 x 8″
Collage/Mixed Media on wood slice
Text by Elisabetta Mannello ‘22, Gallery Exhibition Research Assistant
The pieces featured in this collection come from Professor Jill Allen and Professor Patrick Coughlin’s Mosaics I classes. Mosaics I is a class that studies “tesserae”. Tesserae are the small pieces of ceramic tile or glass used to create mosaics. Many mosaic techniques are explored in the class. In the traditional method, students roll out slabs of clay which are fired, painted with glaze (providing the color) and then fired again. The colored tile slabs are broken down into smaller pieces to fit into the designs. The smaller pieces are then adhered to the wood or cement board backing. Finally, grout is used to fill in the empty spaces between the tile. Chelsea Evans ’21
Some pieces featured in this display are from the Fall 2019 Mosaics class. They are the pieces that were inspired by the theme “Women We Respect”, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote in America. The students chose a woman who has inspired them personally and designed a mosaic after them. They first traced the image of the woman onto a slab of clay and then carved the outlines into sections of color and value, which is a more contemporary approach. They did not break the image up into smaller pieces, which is the traditional method of creating mosaics. Isabella Africa ’22
Professor Jill Allen hopes that her students came away with an understanding of historic mosaic techniques while realizing that they can use their new knowledge to discover unique building techniques, exploring their own artistic voices.
Melissa Rickards ’20
Professor Coughlin’s class created two projects, a repetitive tile piece and a small tile piece. The students start out with an image or drawing and study the colors and tonal values in order to replicate it. Serana Pellegrino’s piece represents herself and someone close to her resting in a hammock, “simply appreciating all the simple things around”. She was inspired by nature, which is where she says she finds herself. She created it from a vision, sketching and coloring it first and then creating the mosaic. Serana used the knowledge she obtained from class on translating color gradients into mosaic to create the piece.
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Chelsea Evans ’21
Isabella Africa ’22
Melissa Rickards ’20
Serana Pellegrino ’20