Twenty Clark University students are involved in three ArtsWorcester exhibitions opening tonight, either as artists or as art critics.
The 14th Annual College Show in ArtsWorcester’s Aurora Gallery includes the work of 17 Clark students. Two other solo exhibitions showcasing the work of New England artists — photographer Colleen Fitzgerald’s “Stamina” and painter Ann Rosebrooks’ “Sojourns” — feature art criticism by students in “Art, the Public, and the History of Worcester: ArtsWorcester,” a Problems of Practice course taught last fall by Kristina Wilson, professor of art history.
Wilson’s students interviewed and studied eight New England artists exhibiting their work in solo shows this spring for ArtsWorcester, a local grassroots organization that supports contemporary artists. As part of a final project, the student wrote 750-word statements that critically assess and provide historical context about an artist’s work; the statements are being published this spring as Worcester Magazine art criticism articles and as brochures at the exhibitions.
The first article, “Remapping the Landscape,” by Katherine Hall-Lapinski ’19, examining Fitzgerald’s photography, appears in this week’s Worcester Magazine.
“The pieces in ‘Stamina’ evoke the sense of a compact map being unfolded. Sculpted film distorts the realities depicted, reminding us that although these recordings appear alive and sensory, they are simply constructions of a place,” writes Hall-Lapinski, an art history major from Montclair, N.J. “By engaging past and present uses of photography, Fitzgerald shows how traditional processes have endured, while at the same time questioning where the contemporary movement is headed.”
An essay by Quinn Mitchell ’19, an art history major from West Hartford, Conn., appears in a pamphlet for the show, which runs through March 2. An opening reception will be held from 5:30 to 8 tonight in ArtWorcester’s Aurora Gallery, 660 Main St.
Michaela Davies ’20, a media, culture and the arts major from Tolland, Conn., wrote an essay for a pamphlet about another solo show, Ann Rosebrooks’ “Sojourns,” running through June 29 at ArtWorcester’s Hadley Gallery, 657 Main St. An art opening will be held from 6 to 8 tonight.
Exhibitions of the other six artists’ work will open later this spring.
Meanwhile, an art opening for the 14th Annual College Show, running through March 2, will be held along with Fitzgerald’s opening from 5:30 to 8 tonight in the Aurora Gallery.
The Clark students exhibiting their work include: