Schmucker Art Gallery Displays “Pantheon” and Juried Student Exhibition
By Rachel Nguyen, Staff Writer
Student art displayed in the Schmucker Art Gallery (Photo Eric Lippe/The Gettysburgian)
On Friday, March 24, the Schmucker Art Gallery presented a new exhibit entitled “Pantheon,” alongside the Juried Student Exhibition containing a collection of selected students’ artworks. The gallery opening included talks from artists and a reception that followed.
Muhlenberg College Art Assistant Professor Frederick Wright Jones gave a talk on his new exhibition in the gallery titled “Pantheon.” He explained that his work represents his notions of power and belonging.
“What I’m trying to do is to create worlds…one is the cell phone and the sort of connection to the world through the digital, and the other one is very personal,” said Jones.
The idea of phones was a large inspiration for Jones.
“We have in all our pockets, we have this sort of little portal into all these worlds. You can get into history, into the global, into pop culture,” said Jones. “We got Matt Turner and George Washington, then the global, Vladimir Putin and Angela Merkel, and pop, Beyoncé and Jay-Z.”
Using the idea of rituals, monuments and cell phones, Jones guided us on his journey of exploring himself. These methods not only connected the past and the present but also incorporated the outside and inside worlds.
“We get bombarded every day with expectations from these things in our pockets, little portals telling us how to be,” Jones shared. “In our digital age, the notion and the very logic of public and private are shifted. We can be both out of this world and part of it at the same time.”
Jones was also on the jury for students’ artwork and announced the winners. The third prize was given to Lizzy Kramer ’26, the second prize was given to Lily Morrell ’23, and the first prize was given to Lauren Chu ’23. The Juror Award was given to Sia Harrison ’25.
“The piece that I gave (the) first prize (to)… has the same sort of collection of imagery coming together, in a way it was like a collage. And for me, that sort of collection of ideas really struck,” said Jones.
Lauren Chu won first place for her artwork displayed in the Schmucker Art Gallery (Photo Eric Lippe/The Gettysburgian)
After winning first place, Chu shared the challenge she faced while creating this piece of art. She said she faced microaggressions from a professor toward minority students, and this shaped the identity she wanted to represent in her work.
“In the winning piece, ‘Series II,’ I used pop culture references that I grew up with, such as lyrics from David Bowie’s ‘China Girl’ to further illustrate a narrative that incorporated my personal and cultural identities,” said Chu. “Due to the amount of pop culture icons I included throughout the piece, I tried to experiment with bright pops of colors that could stand out well against the white surface of my panel. I want to deliver a visually captivating piece that tells the story of the poignant moments that shaped me to be who I am today.”
She shared that aspects of herself and her family were also incorporated in the piece.
“Along with the image of a younger me in the bottom right corner, I also include quotes in cursive from my mom. She was a first-generation Chinese American and she and my dad both taught me to be proud of my heritage, while also being inclusive and tolerant of other people,” said Chu.
Morrell wanted to remind people of the invisible positions of minorities, especially of women in the art world, through her winning artwork ceramics.
“Not in the sense that women artists have been overlooked, but in the sense that everyday women are often engaged in artistic endeavors like sewing, music, baking, and gardening/farming, however, they are never recognized since it is their expected role,” Morell said.
Kramer introduced her monotype print, which represented girlhood, and won her the third prize.
“It’s like a girl in big shoes…growing into womanhood in your life, and just kind of reminiscing and having the knowledge of how easy it was,” said Kramer. “I feel a lot of nostalgia and I think about that stuff a lot. I think the complexity of being a little girl just going through (womanhood) and my experience with that and femininity has been something that always kind of comes up in my artwork.”
Students who attended the event commented on the opportunity to see the new artwork.
“I love attending artwork that’s always in Schmucker, especially since this is by students; it’s very inspirational. And usually you don’t get to see other people’s work outside of your class,” said Katie Ryan ’23.
The student exhibition featured varieties of media, from drawing, painting, to ceramics, sculptures and videos.
“We kind of keep that idea of diversity in mind when we’re installing,” said Director of the Schmucker Art Gallery Shannon Egan. “I like to think about little points of connection between works.”
On April 7, the gallery will hold an event from 9 to 11 p.m. in collaboration with Listeners and Performers.
