By: Amanda Held
Posted In: Entertainment
Photo credit: Amanda Held
Jessica Stenson, a graphic design major at Salve, is one of the students who will be featured in the BOSS exhibit.
Whether you’re interested in art or not, it doesn’t take an expert to realize some of the amazing talent that is showcased each year in Salve’s annual BOSS (Best Of Salve Students) exhibit.
According to Gerry Perrino, Assistant Professor of Art, this is an event that has been going on for more than 10 years and will get underway once again beginning Wednesday, Feb. 1 through Sunday, Feb. 12 in the University Gallery. If you choose to attend, you will surely get a glimpse of some of the best Salve student art work from all areas of the department. The purpose of the exhibit is to show the college community the high quality of work that can be produced by the students. Perrino also adds that, “The show gives the students an opportunity for practical presentation of their work and is a reward for students that work hard.” So, with all of the immense talent lingering amongst the student body, determining what pieces to select for the show can be a hard task to accomplish. Fortunately, within recent years, this process has improved. Perrino recalls that years ago, it was a very chaotic process. Students were submitting artwork on their own, resulting in too many pieces and very little wall space. Also, with this type of process, some of the best artwork was not being submitted. To try to eliminate these problems, faculty members, in combination with Craig Coonrod, Gallery Director, are now making the selections. By doing so, problems have lessened, but have not completely disappeared. “It has a lot to do with wall space,” Perrino said. “We try to fit all good artwork but sometimes there is just not enough room.” Once the selections are made by faculty, an independent judge is then brought in to critique the pieces. This year the gallery has hired Peter Diepenbrock, owner of Suydam and Diepenbrock, a sculpture and jewelry gallery, located in downtown Newport. Diepenbrock will be judging the artwork and then issuing prizes to the best piece in each major concentration (i.e. photography, graphic design, etc.). Perrino also made note of his own personal award that he issues, which is named after his father and grandfather. This award recognizes an outstanding piece within the drawing category. Prizes in other concentrations usually include a nice book in correspondence to what category the student wins for. Among the participants is junior Jessica Stetson, a graphic design major here at Salve. Numerous pieces of Stetson’s work were selected for the exhibit, some of which include several of her photos taken in her Photography I class and a Dalai Lama poster that she created in her Graphic Design II class. When Stetson first found out her work had been chosen for the exhibit, she was very excited. She says “I was excited to know that all my hard work paid off.” It is the first time her work has been entered into any type of show, so Stetson also admits that she is a little bit nervous about her work being judged. “I’m a little anxious about my work being compared to others because there’s a really lot of talented people that go here.” Although there are prizes at stake, Stetson said, “I won’t be disappointed if I don’t win. I’m just excited and honored that my work got to be displayed.” She also thought it was important to note that you don’t have to be an artist to attend. She said, “Even students who just have friends in the art department may want to go. Art majors spend a majority of their time in the studio so by going, their friends will finally get to see where all that time goes to!” In the end, it doesn’t matter if you’re an artist, friend, or even member of the community, all are welcome so come check it out! Gallery hours: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday and 2-4 p.m. Sunday
