Lost & Found

Spotlighting work-in-progress, MHS Gallery and Arts Administration students showed off their curating chops by recently hosting their own show in the Pittsfield Upstreet Cultural District.

Titled “Lost and Found,” the exhibition at the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts celebrated the circuitous nature of the artistic process and featured the work of 11 artists — including two MHS alums and one current parent. The culminating project in this semester-long class, the unique pop-up event was a hit with students and artists alike.

The show featured finished and unfinished works by artists Alex Beaumont, Alexandra Pulga, Chalice Mitchell, Huck Elling, Jill Gustavis, Leo Quiles, Carl Bowlby, Mollie Kellogg, Michael Vincent Bushy, and recent MHS graduates Xinyan Yu ’20 and Jingtong Zhang ’20. The installation encompassed several mediums, including textiles, digital art, sculpture, animation, crochet masks, watercolors, illustrations, and mixed media.

Taught by Expressive Arts Department Chair Ellie Kreischer, the Gallery Arts and Administration class leans into the business side of the art world.

Throughout the semester, students visit galleries and museums to learn about curation, communication, community engagement, fundraising, selling of art, marketing, and event planning. Working as a team, they establish a mission statement for the pop-up gallery, serve as the jury for the selections, and produce an event for the opening of the show.

During this special evening, the five student curators mingled with visitors — and some of the artists themselves — answering questions about the work and how they chose to feature it in the show. Visitors to the event were greeted with a “Mystery Door Prize,” each containing an object that was once “lost” and now “found,” and there was even a painting-in-progress, to which visitors could lend their own creative touches.

The unfinished work was beautiful and inspiring, and the student curators each found different ways to tell the stories of the art and artists and to highlight the artistic process.