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Karen A Gahagan
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The creative talents of two Salem State University art majors from Gloucester are being recognized with awards and solo exhibitions in the university’s Winfisky Gallery this spring.
As part of their Honors in Art Capstone Exhibitions, which featured their senior year coursework, Marisa Orlando and Emily Grace mounted their solo exhibitions, one of the highest honors bestowed on an artist.
Grace’s exhibition titled, “Daydream”, featured her paintings that were on view from April 8-19. Bloom’s 3D exhibition titled, “Fluorescence of Adolescence”, is on display until May 10.
“I’m very grateful for the opportunity to show my work and have my very first solo show,” said Grace. “This show is a perfect close to my undergraduate studies and an introduction to my journey as an artist.”
In terms of her exhibition, she described it in this way: “I am interested in the connections we share with our own imaginations. The comfort we get when we shield ourselves from the outside world, filling our minds with stories and imagery that takes us out of whatever real things we are forced to confront every day.”
She was surprised at the impact her work had on her peers with many telling her that they were inspired by her paintings.
“Underclassman or even those that will graduate with me in only a few weeks told me that my art made them want to create something. It brought up new ideas and tickled something in their brain that made them feel inspired. What a beautiful reaction,” she added.
Orlando, meanwhile, described her exhibition having its roots in the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. “I was sharing a small room with my adult sister, not an ideal situation especially when you’re forced into it. Feeling like I had no space of my own I decided to get a little creative. I took different string lights, random rugs, chairs, and many unused household items to make my basement into my own oasis of sorts,” she recalled.
“It was while attending Zoom classes in my basement that my professor and mentor Ken Reker noticed my ability to control the environment around me and really transform an otherwise unused space and unused items into a completely captivating and immersive spectacle.”
And, so, an exhibition was born.
“This installation was really about having fun and using many salvaged materials to transform the Winfisky Gallery into a new environment that I hope viewers find oddly familiar and, in a way, comforting,” said Orlando. “The body of work is fairly ambiguous, some of it having meaning to me, other things being totally random, but through this ambiguity I hope that viewers are able to make their own connections within this web of crazy thoughts.”
Orlando finished her senior year earning an art degree with a concentration in 3D art and a minor in psychology. She hopes to one day teach art.
In addition to their exhibitions, Grace and Orlando have also been recognized with top awards from the Salem State art and design department. Orlando is the recipient of the 2024 Creativity Award in Art, while Grace is receiving the Vito Sammartano Award.
The Creativity Award recognizes the artistic endeavors of outstanding students in art, creative writing, dance, music and theatre and is the highest award in the arts at Salem State. The Vito Sammartano Award is given to the department selectee who has exemplified creative achievement in the studio disciplines and maintains at least a 3.0 GPA in studio disciplines.
In addition, Orlando and Grace -spelling received Summer Artistic Development Grants from Salem State’s Center for Creative and Performing Arts in 2023. These grants assisted them in getting the materials they needed to create their honors exhibitions.
Grace, who will earn a bachelor’s in arts with a concentration in painting, said she wants to expand on what she learned during the academic year by spending time painting and drawing, ideally in Gloucester.
“It has always been a dream to have my studio in downtown Gloucester because it is one of my favorite places to be,” she said. “I’m very fortunate to be surrounded by art and artists everywhere.”