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[IN THE DRAKE] “Grandma’s Attic” evokes nostalgia

AMAZING ART. Students in the exhibit demonstrated their skills with different mediums, including fabric.
AMAZING ART. Students in the exhibit demonstrated their skills with different mediums, including fabric.
Ivy Evans

The feelings of nostalgia and curiosity often bring old memories to mind: grandparents, childhood friends or forgotten toys. That’s exactly the type of feeling SPA’s advanced art students strive to evoke with their work in the recently curated gallery, “Grandma’s Attic.” The Drake Gallery’s new exhibition opened on Nov. 20 and displays pieces by 29 student artists.

The artworks in the gallery range from video art to ceramics to fashion, each with a short description. They are all unique and contrast with one another, presenting a chaotic yet fascinating atmosphere for gallery viewers.

READY TO PLAY. The empty space when “SCHADENFREUDE” by Thomas Ferguson and Johnny Rog isn’t playing is filled with an investigative-style map of images on the wall behind it. (Ivy Evans)

Juniors Thomas Ferguson and Johnny Rog collaborated to create video art. The piece, “SCHADENFREUDE,” is a strange yet fascinating sequence of events. “[It] explores the absurdity found in the hyperformal,” Ferguson said. The piece, set in an interrogation room, follows a conversation between a mediocre underground rapper and an eclectic criminal interrogator, which was inspired by Yorgod Lanthimos, a Greek filmmaker, and American comedian and writer Connor O’Malley.

SUNNY DAY. Maeve Duncan’s pieces “Dress in the News” and “Natural Dyed Button-Up” stand in front of the window to catch the sunlight, inspiring a multidimensional feel to the space. (Ivy Evans)

Fashion is junior Maeve Duncan’s area of expertise. “Dress in the News” and “Natural Dyed Button Up Shirt” are just what they sound like: a dress crafted from newspaper clippings and a button-up with dyes made of hibiscus tea, black tea and avocado skins. Her description explained, “In my work, I prioritize experimentation and do not have an expectation of how I want my designs to turn out.”


EYE-CATCHING. Evy Sachs’s “Bowl Series” sits on display as the first thing that the viewer sees when entering the gallery. (Ivy Evans)

Junior Evy Sachs, works with ceramics. Her “Bowl Series” displays paint-splattered containers showcasing a variety of colors. “I draw inspiration from a childlike sense of wonder, where the joy of creation comes before the need for control or precision,” Sachs wrote. “I … [include] abstract patterns with bold colors … to express spontaneity and playfulness.”

The gallery has been promoted through everything from advertisements in the weekly student newsletter to posters hung up around the school. Featuring slogans such as “It was always up there. You just had to look” and “You could find anything up there” the intended mood of nostalgia and curiosity is made clear. “Grandma’s Attic” is a fitting term – the room is full of a variety of colors, objects, and mediums. It brings to mind a cozy, cluttered room stocked with plenty of treasures to be discovered.

The gallery closed on Dec. 18.

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