Starting Nov. 14, the Rotunda Gallery in the Handwerker Gallery will be covered with an innovative and diverse selection of artwork created by the seniors majoring in art at Ithaca College. The exhibit, titled Prelude 13, will open with a reception on the evening of Nov. 14 and be available to viewers through Dec. 12.
For over 10 years, seniors in both the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Fine Arts programs have taken the course Theories and Practices: Professional Practices at the college that allowed them to explore professional life as an artist beyond graduation. For the BFAs, the course culminates with a showcase where they are all able to show off a project — a lead-in to their spring thesis project — that exemplifies what they have learned over their time in college.
Bill Hastings is the creator and instructor of the course. He said he made the course because it focuses exclusively on gaining practice and experience in the professional world. Students create websites and resumes, work toward graduate school and job applications and put on an exhibition.
“That exhibition is where they learn, from my perspective, all facets of what an exhibition is, both from the person hosting the exhibition [and] receiving the artwork, and [as] the artist applying and getting into a show,” Hastings said.
Prelude 13 gets its title from the 13 artists included, a larger group than usual because the BA students can also participate this year.
Senior Roxanna Coburn, a BA student, said that previously, the BA students did not have an opportunity to create a senior thesis and instead used to write papers to fulfill their senior capstone.
“I know a lot of other BAs have never been in a show and never set up a show, never done anything like this,” Coburn said. “It’s a great opportunity for resume and CV and experience of being able to actually put something on instead of going all four years without doing any of that.”
Hastings added that in the past, many BAs pursued independent, non-credit-based work instead of a senior thesis. This year’s showcase is distinctive to past ones because students are bringing work to the table that has not been seen before or made in other courses. The students in both programs engage in periodic critiques of each other’s work.
The location of the showcase is also new this year. Hastings said it has been held off-campus at Artist’s Alley over the past few years. Before that, Hastings and his students would find run-down places downtown and renovate them to be their gallery space. Hastings said they had to shut down their space at Artist’s Alley during COVID due to limited funding. He had always seen the Rotunda Gallery at the Handwerker as a “great student opportunity.” This year, the new director of the Handwerker Gallery, Paul Nicholson, made it happen. at the Handwerker Gallery.
Senior Isabella Sloan, a BA student, said she is excited about the opportunity to share her work with the college’s community.
“I think having it be in the Handwerker Gallery is a great way to help our peers see what we do see, everything that we learn and work on over the four years,” Sloan said.
The content of the exhibition ranges far and wide not only in terms of themes but also in the different media artists are using. Sloan said via email that artists are expected to use the skills they have learned over their time at the college, but there are no specific requirements for the project. Hastings said students are working in painting, sculpture, digital media, stained glass and textiles. While there is no common theme for the showcase, Hastings found one point of consistency to be present in many of the artist’s works.
“There’s a lot of world critique and world-building,” Hastings said.
Senior Safara Vache, a BFA student, will be showcasing her project titled “Pleasure Excretion.” By using physical media like gel wax and plaster molds, her work comments on the female experience and the performance of femininity for the pleasure of others.
“It’s about everything it takes to be perfect and to be ready, and the cutting and the trimming and the priming our body for sexual pleasure of others, kind of like this extortion, but then finding that pleasure and relief in feeling beautiful for that one moment, whether it be in the eyes of someone else versus yourself,” Vache said. “I kind of wanted this disgust and repulsion, but tied in a cute pretty bow.”
Some of the projects relate to identity and personal experiences. Senior Mooney, a BA student, created a fusion of two places that have played large roles in their life growing up, the Mediterranean and the American Southwest, for their project. Both have similar geographic landscapes, as well as themes and folklore, so they wanted that to be represented in
his artwork.
The BFA students always continue their thesis work in the spring. This year, Mooney said they are excited to get the opportunity to do the same.
“We’re very attached to our projects,” Mooney said. “We want to expand them out, see what else we can do with them.”
