Student-Artists Interpret Maps

Magill’s Alcove Gallery is hosting Mapping as Painting and Drawing: A Student Exhibition, a show of work by student-artists in Visiting Assistant Professor of Fine Arts Elizabeth Whalley’s 200-level drawing and painting classes.

Along with extended, end-of-semester hours (24-hours a day with One Card access for students), Magill Library is offering a great excuse for a study break with a new show in the Alcove Gallery.  Mapping as Painting and Drawing: A Student Exhibition shows creations by Visiting Assistant Professor of Fine Arts Elizabeth Whalley’s 200-level drawing and painting students. The artworks were inspired by You Are Here: Exploring the Contours of Our Academic Community Through Maps, a Special Collections exhibition of maps chosen and interpreted by members of the Haverford community that is on view in the Sharpless Gallery through February 10.
Just how were these student-artists influenced by maps and map-making in their own work? One student, Stephanie Mattiello ’13, was inspired by the edges of medieval maps to examine how we use water today. “As the continents absorb scarce natural resources humankind approaches the same uncharted territory that was labeled as Here Be Monsters in the maps of ancient mariners,” she wrote in the description of her work, called collectively “Here Be Monsters: Mapping the Depletion of Water.” Aigner Picou ’14  was inspired by the symbology of map keys and made a map of New York City using symbols that have personal meaning to her. Some students, like Ashley Navarro BMC’12, removed the ideas of maps from the physical realm of geography. Navarro mapped the career of Salvador Dali in a surreal drawing/collage.

The show is up through December 15.