Lauren SlivaA silk dress was one of the many pieces of art and display at the Moore College Student Art Show. Student art pieces will fill the white walls at Moore College from Oct. 24 until Dec. 9. As one walks down the hallway towards the gallery, there are different student displays.
Most of the artwork is from the spring and fall semesters. In the gallery, the featured artwork displays are works of first year foundation students, as well as second and third year students. The artwork is representing different departments within Moore College, including, art education, basics, fashion design, fine arts, graphic design, illustration, interior design, photography, digital arts and textile design.
Within the interior design section, there was a design of a whole restaurant. The restaurant used a cork material throughout the restaurant and included a bar.
In the illustration section, students included pieces they drew of characters in different outfits and poses. Students also drew a collage of shoes and purses.
The director and chief of the studio art classes at Moore College, Lorie Mertes, plans the exhibitions and works with the artists to arrange the works in the gallery as appropriate for each show. For the Annual Student Show, Lorie works with faculty to designate space for each academic department and helps them to arrange student work in each allotted space.
All students must enroll in Moore’s core foundation courses. When students enroll in the foundation courses, they will develop perceptual, technical and conceptual skills which are necessary to major in any of the 10 majors which are offered at Moore College.
“Each teacher encourages students to enter the art show. Once students enter the art show there is a jury who picks what pieces will be placed in the exhibit. The jury picks pieces based on the amount of space in the exhibit and what art pieces work together,” Monika Kuder, student at Moore College, said.
Moore College will offer the students different opportunities to compete for fellowships and scholarships that will help them financially. The students will receive the scholarships as they enhance their artistic skills.
The winners of the art shows are chosen by outside jurors. The jurors are regional experts in the different artistic fields.
Each exhibition is created Mertes. The director works with the artist or artists to determine how the layout of the gallery will be executed and what works will be shown.
Moore College has over six galleries and exhibition spaces on campus. There are some galleries and exhibits which are dedicated specifically to displaying student work year-round. Each space has a mission. The work is generally determined based on that gallery’s inherent purpose.
Not only is the gallery filled with art work, but the cafeteria walls are filled with student’s pieces. Most of the pieces located in the cafeteria are black and white drawings, sketches, portraits or designs.
Moore College’s Annual Student Show usually occurs at the end of each school year, in March orApril. The Galleries at Moore are one of five venues presenting the exhibition, The Graphic Unconscious in conjunction with Philagrafika 2010. Philagrafika is Philadelphia’s international festival celebrating the print in contemporary art. Moore College chose to push the student show to the fall. The Philagrafika’s exhibition dates are Jan. 29, 2010 – April 11, 2010.
“With the overlap, there wasn’t enough time in the schedule to squeeze in the annual student show and as gallery man thought it would make sense to showcase works from the fall semester, works from fall-specific courses, that don’t usually get seen by the time our usual end of spring semester exhibition,” Gabrielle Lavin, gallery director, said.
