By: Katy Coakley
From illustrations of the Social Hall to a honeycomb stoneware, a new and colorful exhibition hosted by Dominican’s art and design department students educated and entertained students and faculty.
The 2023 annual student exhibition was in the O’Connor Art Gallery and displayed 49 diverse artworks including printmaking, painting, and photography from students. About 40 students were selected for their work.
Junior Christopher Rice explained what his three reworked images of original photographs of late boxer Muhammad Ali meant to him.
“Muhammad Ali is more than a person inside the ring,” Rice said. “He had just as much power outside of the ring and in my eyes, his speech had a lot of power. I wanted to take everybody back to that time.”
He also said that his interests in sports helped intersect with his love of art for his work.
“I really wanted to use the Muhammad Ali to separate myself,” said Rice. “I want to see the world in a different perspective.”
Rice won two awards for his photoshops at the exhibition ceremony including Best Design and the Dean’s Purchase Award.
Sofia Alessandrini, a sophomore double majoring in graphic design and English, said that her digital print of Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder was an important dedication to her father.
“Pearl Jam is the artist that we both really love,” said Alessandrini. “It helped us bond.”
Alessandrini also has another digital print of a horse on display as well as a still life of personal objects.
She said she wants people to learn more about the art department through the exhibit.
“I just love being apart of the art community on campus and supporting the fine arts,” said Alessandrini. “A lot of people didn’t know that the fourth floor of Lewis exists or have ever been to the art gallery. It’s important to be involved.”
She also talked about what she wants people to take away when seeing her art.
“That they can just appreciate that someone was passionate about it,” said Alessandrini. “Someone really put their personality and time into this. That’s where the connection happens through the art.”
Junior Stephon Frost said he wanted to use less illustrations for his work and add more texts to his design. His music festival print was originally created for Professor Bill Kerr’s class.
“He had us use this assignment as a way to figure out how to use different texts for posters,” said Frost. “It more about the outreach that the music has.”
Frost also said that this was his first time entering an art exhibition but did have some struggles about deciding what artworks he wanted to display.
“I didn’t know if I felt it was where I really wanted to go with it,” said Frost. “It made me realize that I need to figure out my ideas and what I feel is completed work.”
The art and design department also hosted an awards ceremony to celebrate all the artists’ work and achievements on March 22. The exhibition ran through April 7.
