A cardboard octopus looks out the 808 Gallery’s glass windows onto the Commonwealth Avenue sidewalk, as Boston University students walk to and from classes. Some students glance curiously into the building, while others stop altogether to admire the artwork placed neatly inside.
The octopus — along with a life-size shoe collection, tortoise shell and other creative works — have found a home in the Gallery, at 808 Comm. Ave., since Sept. 3 as part of the annual Undergraduate Showcase, which features work by BU College of Fine Arts students. The Showcase is the first exhibition of the academic year and has been running for about 10 years now, said James Hull, interim exhibitions director at the School of Visual Arts in CFA.
The Showcase is open to all undergraduates in CFA’s visual arts school, where students can exhibit everything from painting to sculpture.
Hull said the Showcase is a great way to welcome back students and “provide a valuable experience for students as exhibiting artists.”
“The process of framing or presenting the works, deciding on a title and even a price as well as how a work is going to be installed are all valuable experiences to draw on later and a good opportunity for teachers and students to discuss these topics together,” he said.
Although students don’t actually sell their work in the 808 Gallery, the process of entering work into the Showcase includes an exercise in selecting a selling price.
“Additionally, the students value the chance to see the work they have created in a gallery, not just in their work area or classrooms,” Hull said.
Taylor Mortell, a junior in CFA, has two projects at the Gallery this year: a large oil painting — which is a self-portrait — and a kinetic sculpture. Both pieces were driven by the “tactility in the process” that “often drives the creative exploration of my [Mortell’s] work.” In fact, it is this tactility that led Mortell to experiment with different thicknesses and textures in her self-portrait.
The electronic kinetic sculpture from Mortell’s time-based class encouraged her “to think about ways we can change the perception of our work with moving parts or elements that change over time elapses.” She made the piece at BU’s new Engineering Product Innovation Center, where the engineering students helped her design and laser-cut acrylic parts.
Mortell said she finds inspiration for her art everywhere.
“Personal life experiences, music, other works of art — really anything I look at or experience could become a source of inspiration,” she said. “When I see something that catches my attention, I usually want to know about it and that curiosity leads me to ask more questions, draw my own conclusions and make art.”
Chloe Conceicao, a senior in CFA, credits the improving facilities that allow students to work in different mediums and learn new techniques, as well as her professors, for her progress in art at BU.
“BU has helped tremendously,” Conceicao said. “My professors are also mentors. They’re all currently active in the design and art world, so they are always there to give some extra insight and advice. Perhaps most important, being at school has helped me develop my creative thought processes, problem-solving skills and craft.”
Conceicao echoed Hull in that the Showcase is “the perfect welcome-back-to-school event” that “gets everyone excited to be back in the studios and inspires you to push yourself further for the coming year.”
Jessica Richards, a sophomore in CFA, has two drawings and a sculpture of a shoe in the Showcase. While working on her projects, Richards said the advice and guidance from her professors greatly improved her art in the end, citing a reproduction drawing of a wing in the Museum of Fine Arts as an example.
“I feel that perspective drawings are interactive pieces that allow the viewer to determine where the artist was sitting when the composition was created,” she said. “I originally drew the interior of the museum on an 18-by-24 [piece of] paper. My professor suggested I transfer the drawing onto a much larger scale so that the little details could be viewed more clearly. Creating this piece on a larger scale made a huge difference and improved the quality of the piece.”
Richards said it means so much to her to have her art showcased in the Gallery.
“It’s really exciting to see people walking around and looking at some of my pieces,” she said. “I enjoy watching people’s reactions and feel proud of my artwork.”
The Undergraduate Showcase will be running through Sept. 28 in the gallery at 808 Commonwealth Ave. Visit the 808 Gallery’s website for gallery hours.
