The Graduating Fine Arts Student Portfolio Exhibition will be featured in the Burnell R. Roberts Triangle Gallery in Building 13 from May 23 to June 10. An artist’s reception will be held in the gallery on May 28 from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The exhibition is one of the final requirements before fine arts majors receive their associate degrees.
“It’s like the culmination of their studio experience at Sinclair,” said Pat McClelland, the gallery coordinator and collections curator for Sinclair Community College.
The exhibition will feature the work of 18 graduating fine arts students. Most of them have shown their work at an exhibition before, according to Kelly Joslin, chairperson and assistant professor in the Art department.
Each graduating student who has declared art as a major meets with a faculty member to put together a “cohesive body of work” as part of the Pre-Graduation Exhibition class, according to McClelland.
Portfolios will often have a themed subject or feature complementary media.
“(Students) look back over two years of work they’ve produced. They find the threads that link it all together,” he said.
One of the aspects of a student’s portfolio is the artist statement. The statement is a way for the artist to express in words what they are expressing visually, according to McClelland. He said that some students have more trouble producing the statement than the portfolio itself.
Another aspect of the portfolio is a final review with the department chairperson, the gallery coordinator and the student’s faculty advisor. McClelland described the review as the oral equivalent of the artist statement. He said some people need to talk about their work. Others are not as comfortable talking about their work, according to Joslin.
Some of the artwork will be on sale. Items that are sold are marked with a small, red sticker on the label.
“We’re not out there trying to market ourselves, but sales do happen,” McClelland said.
When an artist’s work is sold at a Sinclair exhibition, the gallery charges a 15 percent commission, according to McClelland and Joslin. Joslin said the commission helps prepare art students for professional galleries where commissions can reach up to 40 percent. If an art piece is not purchased, it is returned to the artist. All commissions from Sinclair art sales go toward the Fine Art Scholarship Fund, according to McClelland.
The Triangle Gallery is open:
Monday through Thursday – 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Friday – 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday – 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
To learn more about the galleries at Sinclair, visit http://www.sinclair.edu/arts/galleries.