The Amelie A. Wallace Gallery is hosting a massive collection of works by Visual Arts students until March 13. The works featured in this exhibition were created in Visual Arts courses, including Sculpture, Painting, Drawing, Creative Coding, Animation, Digital Imaging, Graphic Design, and Visual Culture. 

^{Earth Side of Diorama by Sculpture Students. Photo Credit: Vincent Arroyo}

The very first thing that catches your eyeWhen you walk into the gallery is the spinning diorama in the center of the room. This is the final project for Professor Eric Hagan’s Sculpture I class from the Fall 2023 semester: a group project culminating in a flat replica of a desktop globe. 

On one side is a map of Earth with the western hemisphere on fire and full of trash, while the eastern hemisphere is full of flowers. On the other side, a bisection of the brain; one half pink with music, literature, and flowers. The other half is gray with cigarettes, pills, heartbreak, and wine. According to the artists’ statement, the piece is a “kinetic” project that focuses “on positive developments and exploring the parallels between self and global improvements.”

^{Students from the Creative Coding course taught by Professor Hagan contributed}

Some of the artists at the opening reception on February 20 were familiar faces from past exhibitions. It’s interesting to see them try their hand at different things, or in some cases, see another example of something they’ve shown off before. Last December, Nicolas D’Amato exhibited an animation on zombie veganism. This year his work is a half-parody/half-summary of the 1978 film Halloween. According to D’Amato, this animation was made before last year’s zombie vegan film and “before [he] had a full grasp on the software.”

^{First stage of Sculpture by Intro to Creative Thinking Students. Photo Cred: Vincent Arroyo}

Students from the Creative Coding course taught by Professor Hagan contributed some of the most exciting works. These artists created a game in a web browser for their final projects. While some did not work, the ones that did work were memorable. Graphic designer Semrah Hussaini created a short, but memorable game where you simply open a door and run from a ghost. Nicholas Imhof built a brick- breaker game, an enduring classic that practically everyone has played some form of in their life. These remind me of the  old flash-based games I played as a kid; they were simple, but it’s easy to sink hours into these addictive games.

^{Inflatable sculpture by Intro to Creative Thinking students. Photo Cred: Vincent Arroyo}

The students of Professor TJ Proechel’s Intro to Creative Thinking course inflated a huge sculpture which takes up a majority of the space on the main floor. The sculpture is the last stage in a semester-long project on the way size impacts form.  The hum of the large fan which inflates the creation is heard throughout the gallery.

^{Andy M.’s Blind Contour Tiling. Photo Cred: Vincent Arroyo}

Downstairs, Professor Elizabeth Atzberger’s Intro to Creative Thinking class constructed a Blind Contour Tiling project. Students layered images from different points of view. Andy M.’s piece looked like a macabre living room, featuring staticky figures writhing in checkered space. 

Many of the works on display are impressive because they are collaborative. While many of them lack, say, a certain bite or edge, they’re entirely communal projects, which is worth a lot more to me.

^{Photo Credit: Vincent Arroyo}

Professor Lizzie DeVita’s Digital Imaging course created this twee field mouse-man that I loved. These collaborative digital image projects did not give individual credits, so the artists will remain anonymous.

But besides that, this exhibit was a much larger and more diverse, selection of SUNY Old Westbury’s unique art department.