The usually empty Robsham Theater lobby was filled with impressive art pieces from Boston College visual arts students over the weekend, as part of BC Arts Council’s Art Walk exhibition for its annual Arts Festival.
“In regards to turnout, I’ve actually seen a lot of people every time I walk through Robsham,” said Brooke Olson, Visual Arts Rep. and WCAS ’25. “I always see that someone is always talking to a friend about another piece.”
The showcase displayed a variety of art types, ranging from traditional paintings to mixed media structures, and even a poetry collection. People who attended the Art Walk were greeted with tall screens and stands, exhibiting different forms of artwork.
As a part of the reception, a board titled “What Makes You Feel Powerful” encouraged showgoers to write on a colourful sheet of paper responding to the prompt. Just behind the board were drinks and refreshments with a “Dungeons & Dragons” themed backdrop.
Megan Cassidy, Director of Exhibits and MCAS ’24, and Olson are members of the Arts Council who put together the exhibit.
“We also have another [exhibit] in Carney in Gallery 203, which is more explicit work,” said Cassidy, referring to artworks such as nudes which could not be exhibited in Robsham.
The general categories of exhibited art included ceramics, paintings, photography, poetry, and various craftsmanship artworks including crochet and mixed media.
Filippo Minella, CSOM ’24, created ceramic sculptures of three Pokémon characters, while Sindey Amar, MCAS ’24, made a two-piece ceramics work titled “Misato and Oliver,” one miniature animal model and a large circular box-shaped model. Amar also had a second ceramic piece titled “Multipurpose Object.”
Adelaide Royer, MCAS ’25, showed off two ceramic pieces: a large painted ceramic vase selling for $1,200 and a decorative ceramic teapot selling for $480.
For the painting section, Manothini Dupee, MCAS ’24, showcased an acrylic painting of an animal skull, titled “Till Death Do Us Part,” as well as a small ceramic piece titled “birds of a feather.”
Gabrielle Bucci, MCAS ’24, presented three oil on canvas pieces, each titled “image of innocence destroyed by memory,” “A day’s work,” and “Dearly Beloved, We Are Waiting on Your Triumphant Return.”
Maeve Pinheiro, MCAS ’25, showed an oil painting on wood titled “A Portrait of Mother Nature: Dr. Jane Goodall,” while Tinghao Wang, MCAS ’24, exhibited two colorful self-portraits, both done in oil pastel.
Wendy Lopez from Artisans Beyond Borders, an organization supporting art made by asylum seekers, submitted a series of seven embroidered canvases, embellished with a strand of butterfly cut outs, titled El Arte de la Humanidad.
Moving to the photography section, Maoyuan Wang, MCAS ’25, presented a photograph of a canyon selling for $500. Won-Woo Lee, MCAS 24, exhibited two pieces of the JFK Library and of an abandoned CVS, both in the form of mixed photograph and inkjet prints. Nicole Wei, MCAS ’24, presented a digital photograph split into three pieces titled “watching.”
Matthew Kirven, CSOM ’24, also submitted two digital photography pieces, one titled “Reinbringen” and the other titled “*hans zimmer starts playing*.” Joseph Watroba, MCAS ’24, submitted three vibrant digital prints, each titled “Amoeba,” “Drift,” and “PdPdPdPdmwmw.”
The remaining visual artworks included a piece by Claire Mengel, MCAS ’26, which showcased a collection of three crochet pieces titled “idk man, I’m just sad.” One of the crochet pieces featured the title, while the largest piece had the words “REST IN POWER NEX” crocheted on it.
An eye-catching, large structure sat on the sides of the exhibit called “RENT, Tree of Remembrance,” made by the Properties Design class of fall 2023. The piece was a multimedia project designed for the BC theatre department’s fall 2023 production of RENT by Jonathan Larson.
In addition to visual artworks, six pieces of poetry were also part of the exhibition.
“It is a long process,” Cassidy said. “There’s a lot of art handling that goes into the job, so like knowing how to wire canvas, using hammers and nails, kind of knowing how to install a specific work of art can be tricky.”
While brief in time, the work of BC Arts Council fostered a space of visual art appreciation, welcoming a diverse traffic of people to view student works at their own leisure this weekend.
“Getting feedback in visual art is all you can ask for because it’s so hard to get,” Olson said. “So I feel like that’s a good sign.”
