Imagine, Design and Create was painted on the canvas outside the door at the Art and Design Foundations annual art exhibit on Friday, at Loyalist College.
This is the first year that students are showcased in the exhibit. In previous years, the work of the Quinte arts council members was represented. The first-year students compile a body of work from various second-year programs. Animation, architecture and radio are some of the mediums represented in the show.
“We were here from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. before opening night moving the walls, putting things up, making sure they’re level,” said Aaron Rose, the acting coordinator of the Arts and Design Foundations program at Loyalist College.
Students as well as faculty worked together to build the show from start to finish. However, it took a great deal of time outside classes to achieve the final product.
This exhibit is the result of a class taught in the first semester, curatorial practices. Students from this class learn the steps from imagining and marketing, to creating a gallery. It is one of the many skills students learn from the Art and Design Foundations program.
“In terms of the program, it’s a foundational program. Students are exposed to a variety of artistic techniques. Then they can discover where their skills and interest are. This program can take them to continuing their learning or they can go out into the industry,” said Kathleen Bazkur, Dean, Schools of Media, Arts + Design and Continuing Education at Loyalist College.
Tall grey walls are platforms for many different mediums of work. There is clearly a flow and an ease to the gallery. The students worked very hard to achieve a look of perfect simplicity, not only setting the physical platforms up, but spreading the word on the media platforms.
“We want people to focus on the work,” said Rose.
The program co-ordinator explains that a great deal of work goes into making this physically happen. It takes so many components, students are split into two groups the marketing group and the exhibition group. The exhibition team is responsible for the nuts and bolts. The day of, putting stuff on the walls, when the work is delivered, matching names with the art, etc. The marketing team, meanwhile, does poster design work, advertising and informing the student body.
Students from various program participate in the show. They’re asked to show their work from start to finish. There are sketches paired with finished products to help viewers understand the process. This is why the theme, Imagine, Design and Create was chosen for the show.
“This is a lovely amalgam of a variety of media, stills drawings, designs, animation, video, and so on. There is also the BRET signal audio feed at the exhibit. It is interesting to think that art does exist in that diversity,” said Bazkur
“I’m always intrigued by the spark that started the thought, the formative work that was done, the exploration, the doodling, choosing the colour palette, everything that leads up to it. I’m just as intrigued by that as I am by the finished piece. I think it sheds a light not only on the work that students do but the process,” she added.
This exhibit proves to students that the process is just, if not more, important than the finished product, especially in college setting. Most student can relate to the continuous reworking and remodeling of their work.
“If you imagine one thing and it doesn’t happen you can be disappointed. You have to recognize all the things that happened to get you to where you were, and understand the success of it. They can apply that anywhere in their lives, not just to their art work. They can apply that to life,” said Rose.