Student Art Exhibition at Pitt Runs from Jan. 15 to Feb. 5

PITTSBURGH—A new exhibition at the University of Pittsburgh University Art Gallery reflects the work of five Pitt student artists, including several who were inspired by Big Sky Country.

The Studio Arts Summer 2015 Creative Research Exhibition features works in sculpture, printmaking, photography, drawing, and digital media. It runs from Jan. 15 to Feb. 5 and will open Jan. 14 with a reception in the gallery from 4 to 6 p.m. The artists will be on hand to discuss their work at noon on Jan. 28. The gallery is on the main floor of Pitt’s Frick Fine Arts Building, 650 Schenley Dr., Oakland.

Studio arts majors Megan Beck, Alyssa DiFolco, Sofia Sandoval, and Victoria Woshner participated in the Summer 2015 Studio Arts Field Study in Wyoming, a program offered to those majors annually through Pitt’s University Honors College. Another studio arts major, Stephanie Taylor, was awarded a Summer Undergraduate Research Award through the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and chose to remain in Pittsburgh and pursue her research in screenprinting last summer. 

Accompanied by Delanie Jenkins, chair of the Department of Studio Arts, the students in the first group spent 17 days last summer at the Allen L. Cook Spring Creek Preserve—4,700 acres of land rich with dinosaur fossils that was donated to Pitt in 2005 by Wyoming rancher Allen Cook.

As in previous years, the artists set up a makeshift studio in a 1919 bank building, and the nearby Longhorn Lodge provided sleeping rooms and a kitchen. Working in extreme elements of heat, wind, and low humidity, the students drew inspiration from the landscapes, land formations, sunsets, and the native and western culture.

The University Art Gallery is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is closed Jan. 18.

###

1/11/16/klf/jm