2026 Annual Student Art Exhibition Images
Preview
Student Exhibition Year
2026
Description
Oil painting on stretched canvas depicting a laughing woman extending her arm outward. Presented as part of the 2026 Annual Student Exhibit in the Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College.
Dimensions
30 x 16 inches
Artist Statement
My art unmasks female expectations of the body and behavior. Too often, we are forced into a box of needing to be beautiful and happy yet quiet and reserved for the benefit of others. I paint to express the freedoms of the female in body and behavior. She can be laughing and falling backwards, twisting her body in mid air, or stretching her arms outward and can do so with no purpose except for being her true self; a self not confined to what she should be in order to bring others' comfort. I paint intensely, emotionally, and urgently to capture the joy of the freed female, a sight to persuade us to peek outside of the box covering our own heads.
I construct truthful, intense body expression and position by taking pictures of female friends and family members who are important to me. I then piece together these images into one singular figure by combining different facial and body features. By doing this, I am able to configure a familiar yet new being as the central figure in my oil paintings. Through the creation of my invented beings, I am able to construct my own world, often simple in contrast to the figures. A neutral setting makes the possibilities of the orchestrated imagery endless. Whether it be a bathroom stall, an eerie hallway, or an expansive sea, the female is the core character of the piece. She draws the eye, demands attention, and does so truthfully. She has nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of, and nothing to have to explain. When she laughs, she is not too loud, when she falls she is not judged, when she points and she yells and she cries and she argues she is not "too much," she is able to simply exist. I want to live in that world. I want to be friends with her. I want to be her.
Rights Statement
Copyright of the underlying work is held by the artist. The digital image presented here is for educational purposes only and is not for commercial use.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Keywords
student art exhibit, 2026, oil painting, oil on stretched canvas, woman
Comments
Winner of the Richard Goldberg Award. Endowed by the late Dr. Richard Goldberg '58, his family, friends and colleagues, and awarded to the student exhibiting a sensitive interpretation of an artistic vision in the Annual Student Exhibition.