Along with the exterior’s new glass walls, and new photography labs and print shop, Ohio State’s newly renovated Hopkins Hall is set to feature fresh faces and talent.

“Recent Arrivals” is scheduled to open Monday and showcase the work of 16 first-year graduate students in the art department.

“This is an opportunity for OSU students and the community to meet these grads who are going to be on this campus for the next two or three years,” said Leigh Lotocki,
communications coordinator at Urban Arts Space, which is partnering with OSU’s Department of Art for the exhibit.

Lotocki said that because there are no restrictions on what students can make for the exhibit, students tend to experiment with the artwork they submit.
 
“This is not an assignment,” she said. “They are not assigned pieces, but they are asked to present new work since they have arrived at OSU.”

The students will represent several areas of study found within the art department, including art and technology, ceramics, glass, painting and drawing, photography, printmaking and sculpture, however Lotocki said the students are not limited to a specific field within the department.

Shane McGeehan, a first-year graduate student in art, is showing a photography piece called “The Last Sonata.”  

The piece is a surreal image about the creative mind at work, McGeehan said. Rather than seeing the artist, though, the viewer sees the inside of his mind, he said.  

First-year graduate student in art TradeMark Gunderson, whose real name is Mark Gunderson, contributed a piece called “Object Turntable,” which plays objects rather than records.  

For Gunderson, audience participation is key to understanding the piece.

“It’s not really a finished work until I actually see someone play with it,” Gunderson said.

“Recent Arrivals” focuses on connecting both the artists with each other and connecting the community with the artists, Lotocki said.

“My hope is that people will feel like they are being introduced to this new class,” she said. “(The show is) a way to get on the inside track on what’s going on in the art department.”

Gunderson agreed.  

“A lot of us have been in the same seminars, but we haven’t seen what we have all been working on,” Gunderson said.  

Another exhibit showcasing these students will take place when they graduate.

“If anyone goes to both shows, they are able to see the breadth of their work,” said Zoey Boyles, deputy director of operations at Urban Arts Space.

“Recent Arrivals” begins Monday and runs through Feb. 7 in Hopkins Hall Gallery, located at 128 North Oval Mall.