Step inside the Ashe Building at the College of Arts and Sciences to see this semester’s student exhibition. From remarkable paintings to poignant digital designs, UM’s best is displayed for the community.
This is UM’s first undergraduate student gallery where students have been able to put their work up for sale.
“Showcasing student art helps to highlight the importance of creativity and the arts within the academic sphere,” Milly Cardoso, one of the exhibition’s curators, said. “It demonstrates that artistic endeavors are integral to a well-rounded education.”
In order to be eligible to submit artwork, students had to complete at least one class in the Department of Art and Art History regardless of their major.
The department’s senior staff, including Senior Preparator Devin Caserta, hung and installed the pieces.
Feast your eyes on some of the best pieces UM has to offer at the Ashe Administration Building.
A Night in the Woods
Matthew Bernard, a sophomore computer science major, completed this digital art piece using Adobe Fresco last spring semester. Freedom and equanimity are captured through the bison placed in the night sky.
“Have you ever walked into a forest and stepped on the wrong branch or something and you’re like, ‘what’s that?’” Bernard said. “That’s what this painting is supposed to represent as we have a lot of dark colors. The idea is that even though you’re walking through the forest and you think you might see something, that shouldn’t stop you from being able to keep on moving on.”
Impasse of Predicament Series
Senior ecosystem science and policy major Nick Reynolds is interested in surrealist art and wanted to create an eerie feeling for the observer in his painting. It features a man sitting in a dark tennis stadium at night. It will make you want to look over your shoulder.
“I thought it would be very interesting to incorporate a setting like this where it’s kind of out of place, but it also works,” Reynolds said. “If this was taken during the day, it would be very different than me taking it at two in the morning.”
Ode to Teofilo Victoria
Juan Jose Chinchilla graduated in the spring of 2024, but that didn’t stop his work from being proudly displayed at this fall’s art show. Chinchilla had Teofilo Victoria as a professor, who passed away last spring.
He dedicated this abstract piece to him using acrylic paint. The painting showcases a building that Victoria had students model their projects after.
“I didn’t spend too much time actually painting it, that’s why it’s very gestural,” Chinchilla said. “I felt like he was an amazing professor and professional.”
The collection is nothing short of jaw-dropping. Don’t miss out on seeing the rest of the pieces.
As curator Nathan Timpano puts it, “It’s always important to continually highlight to the larger UM community the remarkable skills and artistic talents of our undergraduate students.”
Be sure to take a trip to Ashe to experience the stretch of paintings along the walls. Whether you’re looking to take a trip into the world of abstract art or are fascinated by digital design, you’re sure to be inspired.