Student Exhibits
Students have unique opportunities to create exhibition-level art through their coursework. Below are some examples of their work.
Spring 2024
Gut Feelings
Exhibition Dates: April 10 – April 18, 2024
Artist: Christina Valentine
Instructor Mentor: Angus Galloway, Assistant Professor of the Practice in Art
A Message from the Artist:
Hello all and thank you for coming to my first solo show, Gut Feelings. Thank you even more for taking the time to read through my thoughts and look more into my works. Gut Feelings is the most personal project I have ever done and I am honored to share it with you. These works are the byproduct of seeking understanding of my chronic illness both from others and within myself. In August of 2022, I developed a chronic illness and one year later I was diagnosed. Although one of the most turbulent years of my life, it was also the most productive creatively. Many of these works are an effort to explain my experience to others, and to make sense of it for myself. In these explanations, words weren’t enough, so I turned to art. For example, I could tell someone I was in pain, but they wouldn’t understand how it felt and they wouldn’t feel it with me. It is possibly a selfish endeavor to try to make others feel my illness with me, but a shared experience is better than holding it alone.
I chose to work with a wide variety of mediums, charcoal, oil paint, soft sculpture, pastel, sewing, and collage, to reflect the vast experience of illness. The six works span two years of both undiagnosed and diagnosed experiences. I want to give a special thanks to Jerry Phillips, Patrick DeGuira, and my mentor Angus Galloway. I want to thank my parents for helping me through this process and for their support. Finally, I want to thank all of my professors, both artists and not, for their guidance, instruction, feedback, and support. I couldn’t have done this without all of you.
~ Christina Valentine, Vanderbilt University, Spring 2024
Exhibition:
the abyss
Arts 2200: Photography Research and Form
Exhibition Dates: April 2 – April 5, 2024
Artist: Mehak Malhotra
Instructor Mentor: Tamara Reynolds, Lecturer in Art
Statement:
the abyss is a collection of photographs that delve into the complex emotions surrounding suicide, using nature as a metaphor for the depths of human despair and the struggle for understanding. Through visual storytelling, my work seeks to spark conversation and empathy about mental health and suicide prevention.
In middle and high school, I witnessed the heartbreaking reality of some friends attempting, and succumbing to suicide. In college, when I received the news that a family member passed away due to suicide, I was shocked. Friends and family struggled to comprehend the signs, and the only thought that was left behind in our minds was – why?
Oftentimes, individuals considering suicide describe their feelings as a desire to stop living, as opposed to wanting to die.
The duality of nature is mirrored in this complexity of our thoughts. Nature is often viewed as a sanctuary– a refuge, and a safe haven from the internal chatter of our minds. Yet, the solitude of nature can offer a final relief for some individuals burdened by life’s suffering. I use these photographs of nature to present a metaphor for the depth of emotions that individuals grappling with suicidal thoughts find themselves in. Amid the still and quiet of nature, the highs and lows of mountains, and the ebb and flow of water, there exists a silent dialogue between life and death.
Each photograph becomes a vessel, carrying the weight of existential contemplation and the struggle against the fear of isolation and uncertainty. Drawing inspiration from artists like Roni Horn, whose work Still Water (The River Thames, for Example) (1999) poetically conveys intangible emotions, I aim to personify the contemplation of human existence through the natural world.
It is often uncomfortable to talk about suicide– both for those who ideate, and families affected by suicide. The emotions and thoughts can elude verbal expression. Families who experience loss are left in a state of confusion, grief, anger, and alienation, where questions outnumber answers. While I want my work to serve as a metaphor for the struggle and isolation that individuals contemplating suicide may experience, I also hope these photographs open spaces of conversation about mental health and suicide, with empathy and understanding.
If these images evoke discomfort in you, it indicates that the intended message has been conveyed. My exhibit serves as a reminder to demonstrate sensitivity towards individuals displaying signs, ensuring we’re attuned to recognizing those indicators, and taking appropriate interventions.
Artist bio:
Mehak Malholtra is a student at Vanderbilt University, double majoring in Psychology and Human and Organizational Development, with a minor in Art. This exhibition is presented with mentoring and assistance from lecturer in photography, Tamara P. Reynolds.
Exhibition:
Life is Hard.
Arts 1101: Introduction to Studio Art
Exhibition Dates: February 26 – March 9, 2024
Artists: Camryn E., Diya S., Ifedolapo A.
Instructor: Patrick DeGuira, Lecturer in Art
Statement: What’s the point (Camryn E.), facing yourself losing yourself (Diya S.), the you that you know now (Ifedolapo A.)
Fall 2023
Sources
Arts 1800: Sources of Contemporary Art
Exhibition Dates: November 8 -17, 2023
Instructor: Associate Professor of the Practice Jana Harper
Statement: This exhibition prompted students to work from newspapers, magazines, or old books, and consider various methods of collage. Abstraction (Arp, Cage); Analogy (two images side by side – Jacob, Baldessari); Disruption (introduce one element into a stable environment to change meaning – Rosler, Stezaker, Simpson); Negative Space (Charlesworth, Levine, Feldman); New based on historic collage (Moholy-Nagy/Gobbetto, Hoch/Vo); Fragmentation (using person hand drawn and found imagery – Ernst, Kentridge, Simpson); and Found Multipes (collage multiple found elements – Hoch, Mutu, Heartfield, Bearden).
Exhibition:
Reclamation Artist Collective
ARTS 3891: Mixed Media and Textiles
Exhibition Date: October – November 2023
Artists: Reclamation Artist Collective (The students in the Mixed Media and Textiles class Fall 2023)
Instructor: Lecturer Vadis Turner
Statement: We are an eight-person collective based at Vanderbilt University. Our work is centered around using the found, scavenged, gathered and forgotten to tell stories through abstraction. By transforming, manipulating, questioning and challenging our materials, we created communicative vessels that both share our ideas and present repurposed items in unexpected ways.
Exhibition:
Animated Scores
ARTS 1704: Digital Animation I (Fall 2022 and Spring 2023)
Exhibition Date: October 2023
Artists: Ale Merritt, Hana Woolley, Jana Li, Jia Bo, Keanani Afu, Mary Adeluyi, Olivia Liu, Paige Restel, Porsche Jones, Rubric Barredo, Vidhula Oviuya Vasanthan, Yixuan Chen (Fall 2022)
Aidan Cozzolino, Alice Byrnes, Angelica Parker, Fateen Rafid, Jocelyn Ni, Kymbria Thomas, Panda Atipunumphai, Tam Obisesan, Yigit Duzenlioglu (Spring 2023)
Instructor: Jose Luis Benavides, Lecturer of Art
Exhibition Images:
Storyboard Abstraction
ARTS 1101: Introduction to Studio Arts
Exhibition Date: September 2023
Artists: Ife Ayewale, Taliyah Bradberry, Xingzhi Cheng, Rachel Clark, Charlotte James, Hudson Kasberg, Manfred Komlan, Yuting Liu, Megan McDonald, Olivia Omas, Janie Shin (Section 01)
Shafa Abbas, Carol Ham, Isbella Hirsch, Jennir Hourican, Yuxuan Hou, Lindsey Jiang, Yuelin Jin, Bryce Keating, Chiding Onukwuru, Sophia Salgueiro, Alejandra Soriano, Lisa Tang (Section 02)
Instructor: Patrick DeGuira, Lecturer of Art
Exhibition Images:
Summer 2023
ARTS 1101: Introduction to Studio Arts
Exhibition Date: July – August 2023
Artists: Reece Boggs, Kelci Creath, Alex Deifenbach, Sierra Dix, Camy Ruiz-Edwards, Henry Schatz, Dani Wilson, Connie Wu
Instructor: Patrick DeGuira, Lecturer of Art
Exhibition Images:
