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Studio Arts and GSWS unveil the works of their first class of resident artists

A new artistic addition adorns the white walls of Hillman Library’s first floor. Students, faculty and staff who enter the library can now view three artworks created for the gender, sexuality and women’s studies and studio arts departments’ collaborative artist residency program. 

On Friday, Jan. 17, members of the University of Pittsburgh community gathered to witness the unveiling of this semester’s artworks. The event featured speaker talks from the two resident artists, Sarah Avery Schoenberger, a senior studio arts and classics major, and Tesia Smith, a senior gender, sexuality, and women’s studies major. Additionally, the event featured a question and answer session in which audience members were able to learn more about the artists, their research and their creations. 

The GSWS Studio Arts Residency, which began in fall 2024, is a semester-long program in which two student artists are chosen from a field of applicants by department faculty members to research a topic of their choice and create art that encapsulates the themes of their research, with the help of funding from the university.

Scott Andrew, a teaching faculty member in the studio arts department and affiliate of the  gender, sexuality, and women’s studies program, assisted in the creation of this residency program as he felt that some form of integration of the studio arts and GSWS departments would be beneficial for students and faculty alike.

“We wanted to create an opportunity for students in both of our areas of study to cross-pollinate and be able to share ideas and research issues that relate to gender, sexuality and women’s studies within an art context,” Andrew said. “We reached out to the dean’s office and were able to get some funding to pay for supplies and an honorarium for two artists to be chosen.”

Smith, one of the resident artists, focused her research and art on the treatment of Black people within the healthcare system.

“I wanted to create something that focused on Black life because throughout my years in the gender studies major that has always been something I’ve focused on,” Smith said. “My piece looks at how medicine has treated Black people throughout time.”

Smith’s piece takes inspiration from Leonardo Di Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man,” taking the elements of the bodily representation of white men and adding historic symbols to tell a story of how Black people of all genders have been mistreated by the healthcare system. She uses mixed mediums of painting, photography and three-dimensional objects to tell this story.

“My original idea was to base my work off of the ‘Vitruvian Man’ because that plays off of the average white model that we often see, and as I looked more into it I wanted to add more symbolism,” Smith said. “I decided that instead of just doing a painting, I could add on photos, I could add hair, I could add a mask, or I could add jewelry to make the work three-dimensional and add aspects that are known in Black culture.” 

Schoenberger, the second resident artist, was inspired by their research of ancient Greek mythology and modern queer history to apply for the program. 

“As a queer person myself, a lot of my work already talks about gender and sexuality,” Schoenberger said. “Mixing my two majors, classics and studio art, with gender, I end up with an interesting collage of elements from history, imagery, visuals and experience, so this program seemed right up my alley.” 

Schoenberger painted two works for the show, both of which incorporate their research of Greek mythology and modern queer history to encapsulate historical and personal experiences of queer communities. They took inspiration from historical photographs of queer history and traditional Ancient Greek dress to tell the story of them and their queer friends in their paintings.

“My two paintings for this showcase are about understanding and exploring the stories of the Maenads and comparing that with the 1969 Stonewall riots, which is a really odd combination, but there are a lot of similarities where they interact with one another and tell a story about queer community,” Schoenberger said.

Getting to partner with Hillman Library to give Smith and Schoenberger a place to display their artwork, as Andrew says, has been a rewarding part of this experience.

“We have a really prominent space on the first floor of the library where probably just about every Pitt student will see the work,” Andrew said. “This is a really great way to get some work going on in our department in a visible space.”

Smith agrees that getting to display her work for the general public is something she appreciates about this residency program.

“This is the first time that a piece of my artwork is being displayed for public view on a larger scale,” Smith said. “I’m excited that it’s on display now and to be able to receive feedback from people that aren’t just my peers or people that are studying the same thing as me.”

Schoenberger, more familiar with the art world, appreciated the opportunity to collaborate outside of their department.

“Getting to work with different departments and different professors has been so rewarding,” Schoenberger said. “I love that it’s an opportunity to explore anything you’re interested in and create a body of work that shows your unique voice.” 

Schoenberger and Smith’s works will be on display on the first floor of Hillman Library for the rest of the spring semester. Applications to become one of the fall 2025 resident artists will open in February. Those interested in applying should keep an eye out for updates on the studio arts department’s Instagram

 

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