View the Juried Senior Show 2020 on display virtually through gallery’s website

Each year, the Hamilton Gallery and the Department of Art and Art History organize a Juried Senior Show that is open to the public over the last few weeks of the spring semester. Unfortunately, the 2020 show was interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, and students were not able to display their works on campus.

Despite this sudden challenge, the show moved to a digital display of the work by 11 seniors who were graduating from the studio art program. Viewers can now peruse the online gallery display on the Hamilton Gallery’s website.

“Whale” by Jaeyoung Lee ’20

“Everything was completely flipped upside down this year,” said Ernest Jolicoeur, assistant professor of art and director of the Hamilton Gallery. “So the website was really a re-invention. We’ve always had a website, but it’s really never been used like this before.”

The show went through all of the steps that it would have if there were to be an actual physical exhibition, according to Jolicoeur. Each participating senior had to submit three pieces digitally, which were juried by the art faculty, and the images are displayed online together with a quote from each student.

“I coupled up the three images from each of those students with a short piece of their writing so that their words and images can live together online,” he said.

Each senior’s work is displayed with a quote and three images that capture their best work during their time at Salve Regina. This is Sarah McGeehan’s ’20 collection.

The 2020 seniors in the art department competed for the chance to create the visual identity of their class and the show. Avery Rose-Craver’s design was selected for what would have been the image used on posters and postcards around campus to promote the show. Instead, her design is the first image someone sees when entering the online gallery.

“[The image] represents the 11 seniors as one continuous line with a few distinctive features from each of the 11 students in the class,” described Jolicoeur.

Avery Rose-Carver ’20 created this promotional image for the show.

Another interesting element to this exhibition is the geographic diversity of the 11 graduating students. Two came from Japan and one came from China — so there were a lot of challenging adventures to coordinate with this show and the students that were in completely different parts of the world.

The Senior Juried Show is the final culminating event of the Senior Professional Capstone in Studio Art course that Studio Art seniors take in their last semester at Salve Regina. It is the last time the students share their voices with the community, and so it was important for Jolicoeur to showcase the students, one way or another. While the display is unlike any other before it, Jolicoeur sees some positives coming from this experiment.

“This is the world that they’re going to live in — where information is transferred digitally every day,” said Jolicoeur. “And the fact that they had to submit their work electronically … is very much in line with the requirements and challenges they’re going to face.”

Normally, the duration of the show would have been two to three weeks in the Hamilton Gallery. The current online show has been on display all summer. The virtual gallery will remain available online until September 9. It can be viewed here.

Featured image is artwork by Ayu Sakomoto ’20.