During this month’s First Friday Scranton (May 2017), I had the opportunity to participate in my first public gallery exhibition at the Afa Gallery in Scranton. The show is titled Marywood in Paris, and consists of the reflection pieces from everyone who went on the Paris spring break trip in March.

My piece is called Rugueux. It is a woman’s torso sculpted out of clay and stained with shoe polish. The parts are suspended on a metal armature and laced together on the sides with cording. My inspiration for this piece came from my interest in ancient Greek and Roman statue. I studied these statues extensively in Paris, and wanted my reflective piece to be based on them. The original plan for my sculpture was to create the clean, idealized, and perfect form the ancients are known for. However, that sculpture ended up falling to pieces when I tried to move it. I took this as a sign that I wasn’t doing something that is true to my artistic style. I then proceeded to start over and go in a much rougher and natural direction, resulting in my final piece.

Having the opportunity to show my work alongside my peers was such an awesome experience. In addition, it’s pretty cool to watch other people look at my work other than my classmates, Facebook friends, and parents. It was a great opportunity to take in the unfiltered comments people had to offer.

A great big thank you to the Afa Gallery for allowing us to show our work, and a shoutout to professor Mark Webber for putting the show together!