LeBel’s annual spring art show shows off graduating BFA students


Sarah Hurst
LANCE WRITER

s per tradition, this year’s graduating BFA class at the LeBel School of Visual Art is putting on a final exhibit that showcases the work produced in their senior year.

Titled Twelve°, the exhibit will open April 2 and will run until April 5 with a reception held at the LeBel Building in the SOVA Gallery. Twelve° features work from Brandon Lemire, Miriam Brathwaite, Marcy Boles, Kevin Echlin, Sara Curley, Diane Dosen, Dongni Li, Veronica Murawski, Ann Roth, Jessica Terpstra, and co-organizers Stephen Surlin and Hiba Abdallah.

Since the artists work in a variety of different mediums, it was difficult to decide on a title that brought all of the work together.

“We had to look at the bigger picture of what was similar across all of our practices and realized in the broadest sense that it was the idea of receiving our university degree, so we decided to play that up,” said Abdallah.

The 12 students have grown together as artists not only through the planning of this exhibit, but during their undergraduate studies. “It’s actually crazy how far we’ve all come along in our practices these last four years,” Abdallah said. “It’s really awesome to see how much everyone has changed and developed.”

As fourth year BFA students, they are expected to work independently in their own studios for both semesters, while being mentored by professors.

“While the exhibit was planned and designed by us, we also took a lot of advice from our professors,” said Abdallah. “We are collaboratively working together to curate this show and our responsibilities are evenly distributed across the board.”

Since collaboration is the nature of the field of visual arts, Abdallah thinks that it is important that the graduating class work together.

“When we all go off and are working independently, we are still going to have to collaborate with curators and galleries and other artists when it comes to showing and selling works. Being able to collectively put on this show is a great way to learn how to organize, discuss, agree, disagree and really work our way through all the up’s and down’s of planning an exhibition.”

Abdallah said that the public can look forward to “a little bit of everything.”

“The scale, technique and sheer ambitiousness of the artwork surely won’t disappoint.”

Ashley Washburn-Hayden, Conquered, ink on glass

Veronica Murawski, Victoria, acrylic on canvas

Veronica Murawski, Keep Still, acrylic on canvas

Ashley Washburn-Hayden, Comfort, ink on glass • photos m.n. malik