As Northwestern’s senior art majors exhibit their work in the Dittmar Gallery in Norris University Center, they are already looking ahead to graduation and the challenges of finding employment and promoting their art to critics. The showcase title “Help Wanted” holds little irony for the 19 students.
“We were just talking the other day about how most of the people with work in the exhibit don’t have a job yet,” said Astrid Toha, an art theory and practice major.
The display, which contains work of many mediums and includes paint, tree branches and underwear, is not a traditional collection of faculty-selected pieces. This year it is entirely student-run, reflecting a new diversity of craft in NU’s art program.
Toha, a Weinberg senior, said even though the professional art world is scary, students are driven by their passion and create better work when they don’t think of art as their way to fame.
“There is a pressure to challenge yourself, to think outside the box, to try new things,” Toha said. “You know that ultimately an audience and a group of critics will be judging your work, but you learn not to stay within your comfort zone.”
Next year, Toha said, she plans to go home to Indonesia or work in Chicago or Los Angeles before beginning a Master of Fine Arts degree. Although she will “possibly find a job,” Toha said the job world she’s preparing to enter can be fickle, and the right credentials won’t guarantee a solid income.
“It’s definitely not like people who are going to be doctors or engineers; it’s a very tough, uncertain market,” Toha said.
An undergraduate degree is not enough to be a professional artist, according to Toha. She said making her own art for a couple of years will help her gain the additional experience she needs, but that criticism courses really helped her gain a sense of the real artistic atmosphere.
Art theory and practice Prof. Judy Ledgerwood said a greater emphasis on criticism is new within the department, and encourages students to develop their own studio practice.
“I think the recent shift in the department to a more advanced, independent study focus accounts for the strengths of the undergraduate exhibition,” Ledgerwood said. “All of the pieces are remarkably different — there are fewer looking like assignments.”
Contributing artist Claire Arctander said she doesn’t see art as a stable career, but hopes to continue to show her work even if she has another job. Her piece in “Help Wanted,” entitled “Dancing Alone in Bed,” is inspired by a fascination with Polaroids.
“I really love Polaroids and messing around with different things to do with them,” said Arctander, a Weinberg senior. “Right now I’m trying to find interesting photographic ways to track memory.”
Krista Schwegman said her interest is in graphic design and until graduate school, she plans to do freelance projects and contract work. Her piece in the show — entitled “I Want to Be a Super Model” — is personal on many levels.
“It started while I was watching ‘America’s Next Top Model.’ I was disgusted with society’s emphasis on women’s beauty,” said Schwegman, a Weinberg senior.
The first photo in the series is an ordinary portrait of Schwegman, followed by three other shots gradually increasing in digital manipulation, turning Schwegman into her own vision of a supermodel.
“The last one is almost entirely airbrushed,” Schwegman said. “I go from being a normal person to being kind of scary.”
Reach Kristyn Schiavone
