Bradley’s art students took charge of the Heuser Art Center’s gallery, putting together a collection of their favorite pieces – and they invited visitors to find their own destination among the works.
After its debut on Feb. 6, “Ever striving: Always approaching, but never arriving” opened its doors to the public, featuring works from mediums like printmaking, painting, sculpture and even historical notes from pen pals.
While the theme suggested an uncertain journey full of dissonance, the combination of antique art styles and 19th-century pieces conveyed a strong sense of history.
This historical element was no accident. Sophomore studio art major Sam Crase’s journey to becoming a contributor to the collection speaks to the hint of the distant past in the works.
“I needed art history classes, and that class seemed super interesting, so I joined the museum studies class, and it was really fun,” Crase recounted. “We looked through all [of Bradley’s] collections … and limited it down to certain pieces we liked as a group [for the gallery].”
The students’ choices featured pieces that sat in movement, like snapshots of a motion picture, while maintaining a personal element to them too.
“[My favorite’s] the organ, like forest [painting] down there, which is really like the darker kind of art,” Crase said. “A lot of it is kind of darker or more surrealist. There’s random ones thrown in there that [are off-putting] or nostalgic…”
Despite the slow-moving, dynamic nature of the selections, they reflect a very sudden change for Bradley.
With the heaping cuts to Bradley’s education departments came the loss of their dedicated gallery coordinator, Susanne Nestory, leaving those like second-year graduate student in studio art Khadija Zahid to pick up the pieces, in some instances, literally.
“We picked up some stuff, and each student had some opinions over this; this depicts memory themes, this depicts some of the nostalgia-hitting themes, this depicts some of the death kind of thing,” Zahid explained.
While most galleries begin with a theme in mind, “Ever striving: Always approaching but never arriving,” was born from uncertainty, from the cohesion of the works and the future of Bradley’s art department.
“They shouldn’t have [let go of Nestory] because people might think that there’s no work in a gallery,” Zahir noted. “A normal person cannot do that. Nestory had years of experience. She told me so many things about which materials are used to stick to paper, used with walls and some that damage them.”
Aside from the technical knowledge Bradley lost with the cut, the historical art pieces in the campus’ stored collections pose a new difficulty entirely – one that students had to face blindly for the gallery.
“We picked up mixed [art works], so some had information, but some didn’t,” Zahir said. “We used Google or books just to get some of the details, but still, we couldn’t get [them all].”
Despite the challenges, those who work with the artists recognize the heart that goes into the shoes they’re filling.
“I feel like because I work in [interactive media] too, I can see the difference between the students,” administrative assistant Marci King said. “And I feel like the students here are very free-spirited.”
Hosted through March 26, “Ever striving” stands at the entrance of the Heuser Art Center, inviting visitors to contend with themes and piece together a coherent sense from what exists, just as the students continue to do with an ever-changing department.
