With the recent opening of the first year seminar Curation for Change  “A Life in Plastic,” St. Lawrence students, professors and gallery curators reflect on the wastefulness of the planet through a class collaborative exhibition. The FYS will be displaying their final project in the Richard F. Brush Art Gallery hallway exhibition located on St. Lawrence University Campus from April 26 – June 3, 2019. The FYS focuses on building the basic skills and techniques required to successfully curate an exhibition.

      Curation for Change is offered as an option for first years to fulfill their second semester requirement. The uniqueness of the class is reflected through the cooperative component of the curriculum. “Most college classes forget to teach the valuable asset of compromise that  needed for future career goals,” said Jenna Koelling student of the first year seminar. “The class taught me the valuable lessons on communication, collaboration and cooperation,” she added.

      With a class of 18, the students faced difficulties in universally agreeing on theming, sequencing and titling the exhibition at hand. “Breaking the individualistic mold and learning to work and compromise with one another was one of the hardest challenges we faced,” said Evgenija Stankoska, another student of the first year seminar. “We had to break up into smaller groups to throw ideas around and then reconcile as a whole group afterwards,” she added.

      The exhibition combines both photographic and installation elements to capture the ecological devastation caused by humans. The installation is composed of plastic bags and aluminum cans that have been transformed into flowers wrapped around wire. Photographs are included from Berenice Abbott, Lewis Baltz, Gary Braasch, William Eggleston, Mark Klett, and Paul Strand apace with the elements. The components showcased the transitional stages of the earth from where it use to be to where it is now.  

      Instructor Melissa Proietti, a Montreal-based curator, guided the students throughout the whole process. “The class built the exhibition from concerted ideas, studying the work of other artists and galleries and learning how to think critically about their ideas,” she explained. Students worked alongside the coordinators of the gallery, Catherine Tedford and Carole Mathey.

      The exhibition also highlights local organizations both in St Lawrence University and the Canton community that are taking actions to reverse the damage. “Our class wanted to create an immersive exhibition that caused reflection on a serious topics that all SLU students and the Canton community can relate to,” shared Koelling.  The theme was picked to entice personal reflection that could be connected to the SLU community.