This spring, Kathy Herold, the Director of the Hamilton Center for the Arts and owner of Broad Street Gallery, chose to show two senior artists’ work in the new studio area of Broad Street Gallery. The artists featured are seniors Hannah Shaheen O’Malley and Virginia Moore. Their gallery opening was April 8, 2017, and the exhibit will remain open until May 27, 2017. 

Typically, Herold displays students’ art work in the spring, and this year, the art pieces were supposed to reflect the sentiment of Earth Day. In previous years, spring student art shows were difficult to accomplish because many artists are working hard to complete their own projects during the end of the semester. Herold did not receive enough submissions to put on the typical show this year, so the focus and theme changed. Herold also recently moved Hamilton Center for the Arts into the office space adjacent to Broad Street Gallery, so the smaller artists’ presentation fits the demands of a hectic spring schedule. 

“That’s part of putting ideas out there,” Herold said when asked about adjusting to the alternative spring exhibit.

The two seniors both volunteer with Herold, so she offered them the opportunity to display their work in the new space available. Herold originally taught classes out of her home and then opened Hamilton Center for the Arts in a different area of town. When the space next door became available, she seized the opportunity to permanently streamline her businesses and showcase up-and-coming artists’ work. 

Shaheen O’Malley is concentrating in transnational media and education. Shaheen O’Malley’s own artwork varies in style. Many of her pieces are drawings merged with photographs by Joe Daniel Calcaneo Fernández, while others are posters and some are elaborate paintings. A few of the pieces are collaborations between the feature artists in which Shaheen O’Malley merged drawings with photographs to create mixed media photos. 

Shaheen O’Malley learned a lot through friends who are also artists, as well as Youtube and Linda.com, which all Colgate students have access to. O’Malley has also used online apps to create mixed media pieces. 

“I’ve taken two art classes at Colgate, but most of what I know is through friends and Youtube. And practicing. I never really expected to do any of this. I was kind of just doodling and making posters,” Hannah said. 

Moore has had more exposure to Colgate’s art curriculum, as she is a studio art major. Moore’s work also varies in medium. The works she chose to feature include paintings, drawings and mixed media posters. Prints and posters of both Shaheen O’Malley and Moore’s works are available for purchase in the Hamilton Center for the Arts room of Broad Street Gallery while the exhibit is up. 

The work that decorates Hamilton Center for Arts is compelling and, while each piece is unique, the aesthetic pairing of the two student artists is complimentary. Before the end of the semester check out their work and the overall expansion of the gallery.