This year, however, several students presented their works-in-progress just in time for Family Weekend. The presentation was on Friday afternoon in Fayerweather Hall's Eli Marsh Gallery, following a reception for visiting families.
Professor of Fine Arts Robert Sweeney, one of the academic advisors in charge of the honors theses, oversaw the exhibition. "There is no particular theme to the show," explained Sweeney. "Each project is different, in terms of style and medium. Each student has his or her own theme."
The presentation followed a mid-semester critique the night before, during which each student's progress was examined. The students made subsequent changes just before the exhibition, and Richard Scorpio, the technician at Marsh Gallery, put the exhibit together literally three hours before the reception began.
To display unfinished works might be a nerve-wracking proposition for an artist. This was not the case, however, for Lisa Ing '01, one of the students whose works were exhibited. "I think it's valuable to have these there as an exhibition of my thought process," she said.
The works displayed made up a relatively small fraction of all the work that the students have been working on. As would be expected from a showcase of seven artists, the pieces vary in technique and topic.
Ing's figurative paintings have evocative images of painful, grotesque shapes.
Tania Torres-Sanchez's paintings involve images of women taken out of context, resulting in an emphasis on figure and body.
Anjali Deshmukh's paintings deal with the theme of reflection in a complex, abstract world.
Abraham Schroeder's work is unique to the exhibition in that it is digitally-processed. The inspiration for his different computer images of spliced people came from a case in which a man and woman conjoined themselves by grafting the skin on their arms together.
Perhaps the centerpiece of the exhibit, mostly because it is the only sculpture amongst two-dimensional images, is John Abodeely's tall, pyramidal wooden composition. The piece is also striking because its multiple wooden arms are intricately woven with various elements of familiar computer hardware, such as mice and modems.
According to Abodeely, his work represents an example of installation art, which is marked by its freeform use of materials. Abodeely prefers this style because each material has what he calls an "innate meaning," and it allows him to expand his creative approaches.
Abodeely described this project-and really all of his projects-as "a work in a work in a work" because the creative process is "always moving," with new aspects constantly being created and old ones refined.
Although the works were incomplete, the ideas were not, and both viewers and artists were quite satisfied with the exhibit. Ing explained that her pieces "hold enough of the potential and the process to give people an idea of what I'm doing."
Abodeely's parents were among the group of visitors who came to the reception and viewed the artwork on Friday. "I may just be talking like a mother, but I think this is really incredible," Abodeely's mother said. "It's a great feeling to see that your child is able to do something so artistic and wonderful."
His father added that he is proud of his son for creating artwork in a way that he himself would never have been able to do. "He sees more in things than we do," he said. "It is as if he has a third eye."
Abodeely's third eye often sees the usefulness in objects that others would discard. He decided to use computer parts in his exhibited project partially because of a lack of better options. "I work with trash," he said.
Jessica Helfand '01, on the other hand, uses a chainsaw more than any other artistic instrument. She is also working on a project but did not participate in the exhibit.
Her project-in-progress is a three-part wood structure that will hang from the ceiling over a pile of the wood chunks cut in "abstract, organic shapes that imply figural, humanistic shape."