The Class of 2021 is a hybrid class: some students are living and working on campus, while others are remote. For artists, this has been particularly difficult. On-campus students must work under serious restrictions, and remote students have had to create studio space wherever they can. Both groups have taken remote studio art courses, where they learned hands-on techniques mediated by a computer screen. Everyone-- faculty, staff, and students-- has had to rethink how art can be made, what art means to them, and what art can or should do.
The 2021 Senior Exhibition is also hybrid. Some students in the show are on campus and worked to install their own work while wearing masks and complying with social distance guidelines. Some students had to ship work from across the world, send files and coordinate their printing or display remotely, or drive delicate artwork many miles so that it could be safely hand-delivered. The exhibition will be opening simultaneously in person and online. This has involved an enormous effort from all organizers and participants.
There is no single type of student in this show. They represent a dozen different majors, with myriad interests and areas of focus. Their work encompasses everything from traditional painting, drawing, sculpture, and printmaking to digital photography, video, and new media. What they all share is a drive to create, a desire to communicate through art, and the ingenuity, tenacity, and resilience to make it happen in the midst of a global pandemic.
Near or far, artists in the Class of 2021 have overcome much to get to this point.
D I S T A N C E is a testament to and a celebration of them and their work.
This exhibition will be on view May 14 – June 3, 2021, with an opening reception on Zoom at 3:00 pm EDT on Friday May 14. Artwork will be on display throughout the 2nd floor of the Jewett Arts Center and in PNW 001. The exhibition is open during normal building hours to members of the Wellesley College community who are already cleared to be on campus. Members of the College community who are not cleared to be on campus, and members of the general public, are invited to view the exhibition online at this site.
Contact Gallery Director Samara Pearlstein, spearls2@wellesley.edu with questions about the show.
Click through below to experience the artwork and words of the artists in the Wellesley College Class of 2021!
