The third installment of the student-curated exhibition 鈥淥glethorpe鈥檚 Portfolio: Art by Students鈥� opened recently in the Conant Performing Arts Center. Museum student interns Nicole Buruse ’23 and Penelope Bertrand ’26 co-curated this year鈥檚 program titled 鈥淪afe Space.”
The exhibition is meant to allow artists to express their safe space and emphasizes the importance of mental health and caring for yourself.听The art series features various works in different artistic styles and mediums from six students:听
Kristana Quinnan ’23
Madeline Turner ’23
Lia Kusky ’26
Jaidyn Matthew Carter ’26
Heidi Ullman ’26
Michael Yelton ’24
鈥淔rom my personal interpretation, a safe space is supposed to represent a place where there is no judgment, hexing or wrong-doing,鈥� says Carter about the exhibition and his art.听
The exhibition comes just in time to recognize听Mental Health Awareness Month. Penelope Bertrand created the theme for this installment to highlight being comfortable talking about one鈥檚 general well-being and encourage students to open up and advocate for more.
“The best part of working at , helping create events, and curating student exhibits would be the people I have met from these experiences,鈥� said Bertrand. 鈥淭hrough the student art show and trying to spread the word about it by simply bugging my classmates, I found more friends and peers with similar interests. Finding these people was the best part of my work this year at OU.鈥�
An art history major and graduating senior, Nicole Buruse has helped curate several 鈥淥glethorpe鈥檚 Portfolio: Art by Students鈥� during their time at Oglethorpe. They wanted to start the art series to recognize student artists and give them professional credit for their work.听
鈥淚t has been an amazing couple of years of curating these exhibits and giving students a platform; I truly hope this will continue for years to come,鈥� said Buruse. 鈥淚鈥檓 leaving this gallery with my beloved colleague, Penelope Bertrand, and I trust that she will continue to represent the student body鈥檚 artwork in incredible ways.鈥�
The exhibition will be on view in the Conant Gallery through September 30, 2023.听
Photo at top: “Food & Family” by Madeline Turner. Art features various foods such as vegetables, gumbo, flounder and descriptions of what the foods means to her.
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