“A picture is worth a thousand words,” and, as proven by Brandeis student artists, so is a painting, a sculpture or any other piece of artwork.

Currently, the Brandeis Goldman-Schwartz Art Studios are exhibiting an array of artwork made over the summer by Brandeis students who participated in studio art programs over the summer. The exhibition is titled “New Work from Home and Abroad,” which opened this past Monday evening. The artwork was made by students who took part in the Brandeis in Siena program over the summer, as well as Fine Arts students who received grants to create art this summer.

All of the artwork from the Brandeis in Siena program was very impressive, but what I especially loved about the art was being able to see the difference in all of the individual artists’ works of the same subject. Walking around the exhibition, it was clear from the similarity of the artworks’ themes that the students had received the same assignments during the program. 

For example, there were several paintings from different artists depicting a nude figure lying in the same position, views overlooking cityscapes and several still-life scenes. What was so enjoyable about these pieces was seeing how each artist brought their own individual style to the particular subject they were painting. For example, each artist added touches to truly make their nude figure paintings their own. 

Evelyn Beliveau, a non-Brandeis student who participated in the program, showed very impressive shading and dimension in her painting, especially in the body. Alli Steinberg ’19 added dark shadows to her nude figure portrait, allowing the painting to evoke an impressive amount of emotion. Some other standout artists from the exhibitions were Christina He, another non-Brandeis student whose still-life paintings appeared almost lifelike due to the incredible depth of color and detail she added to her work, and Lauren Liu ’19 who focused as much on the details in the background in her drawings and paintings as she did on the subjects themselves. All of the artists from the Siena program clearly showed how hard they worked this summer and brought a remarkable level of individuality to their pieces.

The other artists, from outside the Siena program, did not fail to impress. There was so much variety within the work that each student produced, reminding the community that art does not only come in one size, shape or style. 

Much of the work  broke the boundaries of art that most may be accustomed to. All of Samantha Shepherd’s ’18 artwork, for example, appeared on a two-dimensional surface, such as paper or canvas, but incorporated many different three-dimensional elements, such as a painting of a laundry room with actual net material attached to the canvas to create the visual of a laundry basket. 

There was also a series of work by Amanda Chisholm ’18 that made use of very vivid, metallic-colored subjects against dark backgrounds. Anruo Wang ’18 had her own collection of smaller pieces that were extremely detailed. Each work had a different colored background, whether it be blue, pink, yellow or black. 

Overall, the exhibition absolutely succeeded in showcasing the array of artistic talent. I loved seeing the variety of works that were created by Brandeis students from many different locations around the world this summer. 

The varying styles of work that were presented showcased the many different styles and skills of artists on the Brandeis campus, and I hope that it encouraged students to get involved in the various Fine Arts programs Brandeis offers and encourages.