Back in the Student’s Shoes— Faculty Show 2018

By Karis Fuller

Arts and Entertainment Editor

On Thursday, Sept. 27 the newly renovated Steinberg Museum showed of the talents of the visual arts department, but this time it wasn’t the students’ art being critiqued. Situated on the ground floor of the B. Davis Schwartz Library, the artwork of the faculty graced the walls for the Faculty Show 2018.

Winn Rea, who teaches first years in the foundation course, gave an overview of the exhibition. “All the visual arts professors are artists in their own right, and internationally known,” Rea said.

The most enjoyable aspect of this exhibition was that it was not all one form of media; all sorts of art forms are displayed, from rough cardboard sculptures designed by professor Ryan Seslow, to the dainty ceramic stylings of professor Wendy Foster, who is celebrating 31 years at Post. The walls of the gallery were lined with these familiar names, as the depth of the art departments talent became truly apparent.

Any professor in the department was able to submit. “There are a couple of professors who didn’t manage to submit work, but I would say this is a great representation of the department,” Rea said.

Rea discussed her pieces, which are based on her travels and hike across the Adirondacks. “My passion is for the woods, and I spend a lot of time hiking in the Adirondacks, so these works [pictured right] are based on the topographic of the Adirondack Mountains,” she said.

Rea directly translates her passions and own methods into her teaching. “I work with first years, and the fall semester we work in two dimensional forms and the second semester, three dimensional,” Rae said.

Hannah Spegial, 2018 graduate, returned to view her old professor’s work. “I’m glad they are practicing what they preach and this is all fairly recent work,” Spegial said, explaining how the art department had geared her up for her post-graduate life. The exhibition as a whole, even without an overarching theme, still provided the audience with some fluidity. Although not all professors were in attendance, Rea explained her colleagues work and how they inspire not only the students, but each other to become better artists.

“You can see when you go to an art school because we are all working in the same studios, the faculty and the students, we tend to begin to influence each other visually,” Rea said. “It’s almost like a family resemblance within the artistic community.”

The Steinberg museum is open Monday to Friday 9:30-4:30, and students and faculty are encouraged to visit. The next exhibition Dignity: Tribes in Transition, Photographs by Dana Gluckstein, opens Oct 18.