Joey Khan/Staff Photographer
Rachel McCarthy is a sophomore International Relations and Modern Languages major who comes from Manasquan where she has the opportunity to travel to various art galleries. She is able to really immerse herself in exhibitions that she might otherwise not be aware of.
“I really enjoy them because they often feature local artists that I may know or provide topics that are interesting and different that I wouldn’t normally know about,” said McCarthy.
Since not all students have homegrown opportunities to explore galleries, Seton Hall has brought an art gallery to students that will be sure to test their thoughts and open the floor to discussion.
“Getting to Infinity,” is a group exhibition curated by Jeanne Brasile, who is the director of the Walsh Gallery.
Brasile teaches “Producing an Exhibition” to students at Seton Hall in the Museum Professions Graduate Program. She also teaches art history at the undergraduate level.
Brasile has been working on this show for over a year, researching and putting it all together.
The event features seven regional, national and international artists exploring the topic of infinity through a variety of approaches from disciplines such as astrophysics, philosophy, mathematics and spirituality.
In an email interview, Brasile said that she has always been interested in scientific subjects, even as a young child, and has always wanted to be able to illuminate scientific ideas in the gallery. The idea of infinity relates to some of her primary concerns as a curator. One of the ways it concerns her practice is how artists can depict intangible concepts, such as infinity, using tangible art objects.
“I also liked the conundrum of how to fit a boundless subject like infinity into the limited space of the gallery. It’s the kind of paradox that interests me greatly,” said Brasile.
“The exhibition seeks to present a wide range of interpretations of infinity as related to space, time, quantity, metaphysics as well as other cogent interpretations of the theme.”
Amira Rogers, SHU alumna and fine arts major, explained that while she studied art her whole life, Seton Hall was the place where she was pushed to learn new things about art and was constantly being exposed to new ideas. She was featured in two art shows in the Walsh Gallery during her time here and is definitely looking forward to attending this one.
“The idea of infinity is something that all artists want to reach,” said Rogers. “In art you don’t want to be just part of a movement you want to be the one that people write about in textbooks for infinity. I’m excited to see what people come up with.”
Participating artists include Jessica Angel, Gianluca Bianchino, Julia Oldham, Travis LeRoy Southworth, Chad Stayrook, Katie Treidl and Eric Valosin.
The opportunity to have an art exhibition like this one just below the library where students spend so much time is exciting.
McCarthy said she plans to attend.
“This exhibit sounds cool because it incorporates science and metaphysics, which are aspects that don’t always appear in artwork,” she said.
“Getting to Infinity” is on view until March 13. The gallery is open Monday through Friday 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Siobhan McGirl can be reached at siobhan.mcgirl@student.shu.edu.
