Julia Fay ’13 & Deirdre Meaney ’14
While Episcopal’s usual denizens were trundling home last month for a well-earned two week winter break, the Crawford Campus Center was anticipating the arrival of a reconstruction team to begin work on the second floor art gallery. To kick off the refurbished space, the Senior Salon show will open this month. It will showcase talent within the senior class, spanning the diverse breadth of photography, 2-D Design, 3-D Design, and woodworking. Open to any member of the senior class, the Senior Salon will serve as recognition of the artistic talents and dedication of Episcopal’s soon-to-be alumni. “[The show’s goal is to provide] as much exposure to the hard work [the seniors have] put into their portfolios as possible,” said David Sigel, head of the Visual Art Department. “It’s a little more about who they are, and celebrating that.” The seniors will be heavily involved in the production of the show itself, which will be done in a “salon” style, an open-format organization focused on filling up wall space rather than creating organization. The seniors contributing work in the show will be responsible for orchestrating the physical display of the paintings. “The students will be curating their show,” explained Sigel. “The salon is more about which piece happens to go with which … it’s more organic in its approach.” Pertaining to the renovations, the need for change to the gallery space dates back to the school’s original blueprint. The space now known as the art gallery was originally designed as a computer lab – hence the linoleum floors, white walls, and abundance of electrical outlets. “When the ‘Art Edge’ committee at EAPA realized that there would be no space to display art, they asked if we could use [the current] room,” said Susan Coote, current head of the EAPA’s ‘Art Edge’ group. But the space was simply never designed to facilitate the display of artwork, and thus the plan for renovation was born. “They’re going to cut the corner [across from the staircase] diagonally and put in a glass door…really simple and open,” said Coote. “You’ll be able to see into the gallery from the mezzanine.” Sigel said, “We’re actually putting down warm floors… sustainable bamboo floors. They’ve moved the TV, they’ve moved the phone … [It will be] more of a pure gallery space, rather than a converted classroom space.” Coote concurs. “They’re really going to make it look smart. They’re going to make it look like a real gallery.” The show won’t be debuting in a traditional manner, either. “Since it’s our school gallery, I thought we’d celebrate its [re]opening with what [is called] a ‘soft’ opening,” said Sigel, which is an opening without the fanfare typically associated with a show opening. A lunch will be held on January 11, to which the seniors, their parents, and the college guidance office will be invited, as an alternative to the night openings that usually precede shows at the Campus Center Gallery. The show is currently scheduled to begin running by mid-January. “We’re hoping that it’s going to run from the second week of January up to the winter show,” said Sigel. As for the students themselves, the show will provide an outlet for creative energies otherwise channeled almost exclusively into the important, but somewhat limited mediums of the Dora Khyatt Art Competition, the seasonal art shows, and Episcopal’s arts publication, Epolitan. “I think it is a great event for the school to host,” says Alexis Hawkins ’12, an Honors Photography student whose work will be on display in the show. “I know that a lot of the students love to express themselves, but it seems there are only a few formal events [in which] the students are able to show all their hard work.” The Senior Salon may follow in the footsteps of a major renovation and the publicity associated, but all in all, the show itself rests on the talent and dedication of the students, both in its content and its execution. Sigel sums it up: “It’s all coming back to you guys.”