Palmer Gallery displays studio art majors' works

Jackson Reeves Guest Writer

A small group of junior and senior studio art majors spent the summer perfecting their craft for the greater Vassar community to enjoy at the Studio Art Majors’ “Summer Work” exhibit at the Palmer Gallery, opening Sept. 13 and running through Sept. 22.

The art department regularly sponsors Palmer Gallery exhibits to showcase students’ independent work, most notably the annual Thesis Exhibit of seniors’ final works in the spring.

Assistant Professor of Art Laura Newman said that the majors decided which of their works to exhibit and how they would be showcased, with administrative support from Professor of Art Harry Roseman.
“They’re all expected to be working outside of classes, and a lot of the work is terrific,” said Newman.

The department said a select number of students are involved in the exhibit, including seniors Corydon Cowansage, Gordon Millsaps, Kate Parvenski and Caitlin Porter, and juniors Mary Halfpenny, Christopher Manchester, Charlotte Terry and Willa Koerner.

Cowansage will show oil paintings that she completed during a six-week program at the Yale Norfolk Summer School for Painting. Most of her pieces were influenced by observing life and then directly expressing her observations through painting, as exemplified in her works, “Norfolk” and “Army Base?”

Pavenski contributed five or six untitled fabric sculptures. “I started to use my sewing machine, and after making a few practical items [such as] pillows, bags, curtains,” she said. “I wanted to use the same functional techniques of sewing in an art context to explore the disconnect between objects of function and subsequently those of non-function.”

Halfpenny submitted vector graphic artwork made in the software program Adobe Illustrator, layered paper works, and gouaches, or opaque watercolors. She used her summer “to experiment and play without concern over grades [by returning] to both familiar mediums and [venturing] into new ones.”

Through her layered paper works, Halfpenny “began a more in-depth examination of how paper can become three-dimensional.”

The opening reception for the “Summer Work” exhibit will be Thursday, Sept. 13 at 6 p.m. It will run through Sept. 22.