You’re invited to see some of the latest works by Moore College of Art & Design students in the annual Student Show, on view through April 14 at The Galleries at Moore.
Held each spring, the exhibition features works by first-year Foundation students, as well as second- and third-year students majoring in animation and game arts, art education, art history, curatorial studies, fashion design, fine arts, graphic design, illustration, interior design, and photography and digital arts.
Emma Cortellessa, a sophomore illustration major from Norristown, contributed a charcoal study of “the last face” of American figure and portrait painter Frank Duveneck. Cortellessa also submitted a humorous oil painting of anthropomorphic tomatoes in distress over a cut up tomato in a kitchen, and a study of a chicken skeleton. “My mom was an artist, and she was into wildlife art,” she said, adding that she didn’t become aware of her artistic ability until she was in high school.
“I’m really interested in children’s book illustration,” said Cortellessa. “For me, as an illustration major, there’s a great mix between the academic styles and the digital contemporary world we’re living in.”
First-year illustration major Rebecca Kraus is from Downingtown, and has a pastel “pile diorama” in the Student Show that she had submitted for her drawing class mid-term last fall. Drawing since she was in second- and third-grade, Kraus got a sense that Moore was the place she belonged when she visited their table during a National Portfolio Day event at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. Because Moore is an all-women’s school, “I feel like there is a sense of community to it because we all have similar life experiences,” Kraus said.
In her future career, Kraus hopes to “create believable worlds” for video games and movies. “I’d really like to go into concept art,” she said.
Three pieces are by sophomore illustration major and Willow Grove resident Chianna Mac, whose studies involve a minor in animation and game art. “The black and white one with the hands” is a self-portrait, she said. “I really like drawing faces and hands, and basically any human anatomy.”
Mac also created a portrait incorporating images of flowers and jewelry and vibrant colors such as magenta and teal. Her other contribution to the show is an untitled digital acrylic painting with different geometric shapes that involved manipulating the image’s transparency.
The Galleries at Moore College of Art & Design is at 20th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays (closed academic and legal holidays). Admission is free. For more information call (215) 965-4027 or visit www.thegalleriesatmoore.org.
