Senior Lauren Driscoll’s Digital Art Work. BRIANNA COPPOLA/THE QUADRANGLE
By Brianna Coppola, Asst. Features Editor
Four Manhattan College seniors displayed several pieces of their artwork at the front entrance of the O’Malley library. The showcase consisted of drawn digital art as well as professional pictures by Kate Uffer, Sofia Creanza, Lauren Driscoll and Rachelle Nazzuro.
Senior Lauren Driscoll shared that she was proud to have her photographs on display for students and staff.
“When I go out shooting photos, I just want to look for new angles, different perspectives that you might not normally think of,” Driscoll said. “In class, there’s usually a shot list, like shot by shot that you want to take per day. I don’t really work like that. I just kind of walk around and I kind of see what looks interesting.”
Driscoll shared she had been passionate about photography since she started at age twelve.
“It’s when I feel most comfortable,” Driscoll said. “I would say I started taking photos when I was 12 years old. So I’ve been doing it for a while now and it’s something that’s given me a lot of confidence and a way for me to express myself and to just enjoy myself and capture moments.”
Driscoll also likes to take a lot of photos of nature.
“There is also one with a blurred background, that one was in the Holland Tunnel.” Driscoll said. “It was like a beige-ish, kind of background and so I kind of stuck my camera out of the sunroof. My camera was up there and I kind of felt that the picture was taken by accident. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I brought my camera back down and with whatever setting I had I just really loved the way it turned out with all the lights blurring.”
Driscoll has said that all of her photos are different from one another and a lot of them tend to be candid and in the moment and that’s one of her favorite ways to capture pictures.
Senior Kate Uffer shared a little bit about her work and what it means and how she went about creating it. She discussed the cat series and the line drawing of the two people on the bed.
“So the series of the two cats is for my love of cats but also my friends’ love of cats,” Uffer said. “Cats are goofy, silly creatures and we either put them in silly situations like the cat wearing the glasses, or find them doing silly things.”
Uffer likes to typically draw what’s happening around her and a lot of the time, her drawings connect to her friendships as well.
“The one of the two people sitting on the bed was actually a digital drawing class assignment where we do a drawing just with a line and it’s of my two friends,” Uffer said. “Sitting on the bed was one of my roommates friends and it was before they started dating, you know, doing cute dating things. And also my friend loves to decorate their side of the room. There’s all those decorations out there. I wanted to include that too, because it’s like a good encapsulation of them as well.”
Uffer described art as a good way to express herself and said that it’s really helped her get through college.
“As I’ve gone through college, you know, it’s hard to find the time, especially in a technical degree, to be able to sit down and draw something and figure something out,” Uffer said. “But this past spring break, you know, I disconnected from everything which is the first time I’ve done that in quite a while. And I brought my iPad with me and I just decided or made that effort to dedicate time to sit down and draw whatever environment I was in and I was able to put down a couple of good sketches and it was really fulfilling for me to do that.”
Uffer mentioned it meant a lot to her to have her work showcased on campus. She talked highly of her fellow seniors and felt that it was a great opportunity for all of them.
Senior Sofia Creanza shared a little bit about what her work means to her and how she went about creating her work.
“The act of creation is important in my life,” Creanza said in an email to The Quadrangle. “Participating in writing, art, music, etc, is what gives my life much affirmation. In contrast, I honestly don’t think much of the results of said creative processes. In order to improve as an artist I can’t love my work, or fall into a “one trick pony” pattern. So, regarding my actual art, I keep a business professional relationship with it.”
Creanza felt it was a nice gesture to have work by she and her classmates displayed for viewers on campus.
“Regarding messages subliminal or obvious; I’m choosing to keep the meanings of my pieces up to the viewers,” Creanza said.
Creanza finds art as a great way to express herself but she mentioned how a lot of the time it depends on the message you are trying to portray. Art can mean whatever you’d like it to mean.
Jacob Roesch, the professor for the senior seminar course, described how he went about picking the students and their work to be showcased. It was his second year teaching this seminar and he acknowledged the amazing work his students produced and he looks forward to continuing the class.
“I think it kind of put their feet to the fire a little bit,” Roesch said. “I mean, it’s a fairly new class. But it was just a way to make them show their work. I mean, it’s a digital media kind of major that we have in our department. And so a lot of that work has always been kind of stuck inside the box. So, printing it out, and making it go public, was just a way to have them show their work to a broader audience. So I think some of them felt a little uncomfortable about it, but it worked out in the end. So it was great to do it.”
Roesch hopes that when other students view the work, he hopes they understand what the students do and they work. There’s a wide range of work being displayed and it’s interesting for students to view all different types of art.
“So it’s just kind of a cool cross-section of what those students do in our classes and it’s neat to see them all come together,” Roesch said. “Those are four really exceptional artists too. It’s neat to see them all work out.”
Roesch spoke highly of his students and hopes more students will get more involved in the digital media field and take some classes. He loves the talent that he is surrounded by and said it was gratifying to see all the work. Roesch is excited about the future of the class.
Make sure to check out the display near the entrance of the O’Malley library within the next few weeks.