Transitions transforms into art gallery
Part of the Arts Across Campus project, the Warren Hall gallery makes students work easily accessible
By Kelly McCormick, contributing writer
Posted on February 26, 2007

Transitions has served a variety of purposes over the years. It once was home to the University Bookstore, and has since held a variety of events including blood drives, fund raisers and fairs. Now, Transitions is once again taking on a new identity: an art gallery. Right outside the glass doors, tucked in its own cozy corner, is the new Warren Hall Art Gallery.

Last April, junior Christine Bednarz, an art and art history major had photographs she took in New Orleans that she wanted displayed on campus. After looking around campus, she picked out the space in Warren Hall outside Transitions because it was centrally located and available. Bednarz then went to University Unions who agreed to let her use the space to showcase her photographs. She worked with University Unions over the summer to secure the space permanently to showcase student artwork. Last semester marked the grand opening of the Warren Hall Art Gallery with two student exhibits.

The gallery space is part of the Arts Across Campus project, whose mission is to collect and exhibit the best visual work created at James Madison University, and make it available to the community.  It is a joint project sponsored by University Unions, the school of art and art history, the Madison Art Collection and the Institute for Visual Studies.

Bednarz is now the director of the Warren Hall Art Gallery and works for University Unions. As director, she renovated the space in Warren Hall, including changing the walls, getting frames and producing a hanging system.  Bednarz was also part of the portfolio review in the beginning of the year when artists were being picked and then talked with the artists to decide which pieces to put on display.

“It really is a lot of work, and the day of an opening is very stressful,” Bednarz said. “You can like the art, but how you hang it, where you hang it, what it’s hanging next to really makes a difference with how the whole display looks. I really like it though. It gives me a chance to really get to know the artists and their work.”

To get things started with the gallery, a specific process was used to decide which students would be featured. Faculty in the school of art and art history were asked to nominate students who they thought produced artwork of the highest caliber, setting the standards high for featured artists. The students who received faculty nominations were contacted and informed that they had been nominated for a portfolio review and the chance to have their artwork featured in a new gallery. Of the 20 or so students nominated, three were chosen to have their artwork featured in solo exhibits. 

Senior Reid Ganther is the final artist to be featured in a solo exhibit in the Warren Art Gallery this year. He is majoring in industrial design within the school of art and art history. His exhibit, “Generative Form,” is the first time anything three-dimensional has been featured. According to Bednarz, Ganther had a big role in designing the look of the show.

“He really contributed a lot to how the exhibit would look,” Bednarz said. “Since this is the first time we’re featuring any two and three-dimensional pieces, his help with designing the layout was really appreciated.”

On average, the exhibits are on display for three weeks, making it different from the other student art galleries that usually only keep art on display for two weeks.  Not all of the students featured are art majors — last semester one of the students was a SMAD major. JMU has even started buying artwork from students to archiving it and displaying it on campus.

The last exhibit to be featured in the gallery this year will be part of Arts Across Campus.  It is a showcase featuring the work of some of the best students in the school of art and art history. The Arts Across Campus exhibit opens March 28 and will be on display until the end of the semester.

“Our overall goal was just to have art displayed somewhere on campus where it can be viewed by a variety of people and not just art majors,” Bednarz said. “The location puts the artwork in the center of campus instead of keeping it hidden.  I really hope that people catch on that the gallery is here; it really caters to the convenience of the campus because it’s open all the time.”

The fact that it is open and accessible to everyone sometimes makes it challenging to choose the artwork that will go on display.

“We have to choose things that are interesting to the student body, but still appropriate for the kindergarteners that come to campus on field trips,” Bednarz said.