Communal Art Exhibition Opens Friday

A piece of communal art created by 17 St. Bonaventure University students will be displayed at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts on campus beginning Friday (April 1).

The students have studied painting with Constance Pierce, associate professor of visual arts at St. Bonaventure, whose solo exhibition “Kyrie: World Cry” closes at the Quick Center on Friday.

A shared opening/closing reception to meet Pierce and the student artists will be held from 4 to 5 p.m. Friday at the Quick Center. The event is free and open to the public.

The students’ work, titled “Earth Song,” is composed of 34 individual canvases. Each artist created two interrelated paintings, called a diptych, so that the individual canvases connect together and wrap around the walls of the Quick Center’s new Raw Space Gallery.

“The students’ works were inspired by the beautiful contours of botanical forms, and the total communal piece expresses a positive environmental message, emphasizing the beauty, grace and interdependence of all living things,” said Pierce. “We hope that the viewer may enjoy an impression of walking through a large garden or rainforest.”

The reception will feature a performance of the iconic Michael Jackson composition “Earth Song” by the student musical group Bonacoustics. “This globally renowned piece of music brings focused attention to the plight of our planet and our communal responsibility for its survival,” said Pierce. “This is a timely message, in light of the recent natural and nuclear disasters that continue to devastate Japan.”

The exhibition also includes a display of student imaging journals created in Pierce’s classes. “The healing qualities of journal writing and image making are joined together in the process of creating an imaging journal,” said Pierce. “The process, which explores a wide variety of expressive art mediums, leads to an understanding of one’s own personal mythology and its deep connection to the sacred whole.”

Art major Karen Vester said creating her botanical diptych revealed to her a “far from simplistic” harmony in nature, and “the importance of how we must learn to grow in harmony with one another and bestow reverence to all living things.”

Another artist, journalism and mass communication major Shana Hurley, said the project demonstrated that “we are the voice of the natural world,” and that it is through art and music “that we can fully come to understand one another and appreciate this beautiful planet.”

Artist and accounting major Ashley Ross said she and the other artists were surprised to see how each piece took on new meaning when viewed as a piece of the whole. “It is truly amazing how when combined with the other paintings mine becomes a part of something bigger, something more moving and interesting than it could ever be separately. Even though each painting is different, they all fit perfectly into one composition with a common theme throughout,” she said.

Students displaying paintings as part of “Earth Song” are Hannah Coon, Karen Vester, Alexandria Stephen, Shana Hurley, Christopher Sterling, Alexis Cosco, Katie Cooper, Kayla Scherrer, Ashley Ross, Emily Buccilla, Eric Koester, Cassie Orlowski, Samantha Cavellero, Mark Rakoczy, Erin Alberton, Kara Deigan and Breana Farner.

Students displaying their imaging journals are Matthew Ryan, Erin Lowery, Julie Hall, Mary Schrader, Alexandria Stephan, Tess Hanna, Rose Rivera, Alaina Wilson, Kellyn Kautz, Patty Nessle and others.

The exhibition runs through April, concurrent with the Quick Center’s Annual Student Exhibition, which showcases student art. For more information, contact Pierce at cpierce@sbu.edu or at (716) 375-2696.

The Quick Center galleries are open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. For directions or additional information, go to www.sbu.edu/quickcenter or call (716) 375-2494.


Pictured, St. Bonaventure students (from left) Emily Buccilla, Katie Cooper and Hannah Coon with “Earth Song” canvases and imaging journals. Courtesy of St. Bonaventure University