(Posted February 6, 2017)

Students take in the student work at last year's Student Art Exhibition. There will be an opening reception at 5 p.m. at the Juniata College Museum of Art.
Photo by Candice Hersh
Students take in the student work at last year's Student Art Exhibition. There will be an opening reception at 5 p.m. at the Juniata College Museum of Art.
Photo by Candice Hersh

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- The Juniata College Museum of Art showcases the wide range of Juniata’s studio art programs in the “Annual Student Exhibition,” which runs from Thursday, Feb. 9 through March 4, and then from March 16 through March 25 in the museum galleries.

            There is an opening reception at the museum from 5 to 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 9. The reception and continuing exhibition is free and open to the public. Many of the student artists will attend.

            “I think it’s a great opportunity,” says Jen Streb, associate professor of art. “I think it’s exciting for students to have their art in exhibition. I think it’s exciting for them to be able to bring their friends and their family to the museum and see their art hanging there.”

            In addition to seeing their work on display, the students gain valuable experience by preparing their work for the show. “Some of them get experience in preparing their works,” Streb says. The student artists get the chance to learn about taking their completed works and get them matted and framed so that they are ready for the exhibition. “It’s learning what it means to be an artist -- it’s not just making art, but learning how to display it,” she adds.

            In addition to the student artists, students in museum practicum also get real world experience acting as curators as they prepare the museum hall for the exhibition. The students select the art for the show, and work with their professors to determine the layout. “They’re pretty involved in the process,” Streb says.

"I think it's exciting for them to be able to bring their friends and their family to the museum and see their art hanging there."

Jennifer Streb, associate professor of art.

The gallery manager, Amanda Matta, a senior from Elizabethtown Pa., wrote the wall text that will be placed in the gallery. The other students will create the display cards that go with the works, and will hang the art. In the past, this experience has helped set Juniata students apart when interviewing for potential jobs and graduate programs. “The interviewers were impressed by the experience they got through the practicum courses because that’s something that most undergrads don’t get at other schools,” Streb says.

In addition to Matta, the other students in the museum practicum course are: Jen Hochuli, a senior from Rockville Centre N.Y.; Alex Nelson, a junior from Portersville Pa.; Sarah Spencer, a senior from Florence, N.J.; Haven Diehl, a senior from Allentown, Pa.; Ann Ordiway, a junior from Saint Mary’s, Pa.; and Kahley Stewart, a junior from Spring Valley, Calif.

            The show displays artworks made during the spring semester of 2016 and the fall of 2016, and includes pieces from various disciplines that include: ceramics; painting; drawing; photography; and digital art. In addition to Streb, the works on display were created in art classes supervised by Monika Malewska, associate professor of art; Bethany Benson, associate professor of art; Patricia Howard, assistant professor of art; and Robert Boryk, lecturer in art.

            The museum is in historic Carnegie Hall at 17th and Moore streets in Huntingdon. Museum hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. For more information, please call the museum at (814) 641-3505, or visit the Juniata College Web site at http://www.juniata.edu/museum.

 

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.