BSA hosts first art show

On Friday, the Black Students’ Alliance hosted its first-ever art show in the Greene Building Gallery, as a prelude to its annual fashion show in February.

For the half hour before the show started, student artists from Rensselaer and other neighboring colleges affixed their art to the the walls while listening to music and socializing with friends. By 6 pm, dozens of people filled the gallery.

A wide array of art was represented, including a beautifully done, larger-than-life portrait on canvas by Eva Dibong ’22, destroyed and purposefully arranged cassette tapes in coffee cans by Rose Jenison, colorful digital illustrations by Jared Campbell, and prints of analog drawings by Emanuel Gerardino.

Seven live models were situated at the rightmost side of the room in a range of poses; one was seated in front of a sewing machine, another framed by roses pinned to the wall behind her—all of them trying to keep straight faces with varying degrees of success.

Two of the models featured the handiwork of self-taught seamster Cordell Davis ’20. He explained, while guiding a piece of fabric though his sewing machine, that he currently tailors all of his own clothing and hopes to create some garments from scratch to sell; he had already received offers for the jeans that were on display, which were dark blue and featured patchwork on the large holes around the knees.

The turnout was great, conversations were lively, and the display of art was a joy to look at. While this was BSA’s first art show, I hope it’s not their last.