Resting in Reverie: A New Dreamy Capping Exhibition

Senior capping students stand in the gallery next to their hanging artworks. Photo by Lucy Baldino '25

On April 2, a new Steel Plant exhibition showcasing senior-year Art and Digital media opened for the public with a brand new theme: Reverie. 

Reverie, a noun defined as “a state of being pleasantly lost in one's thoughts; a daydream,” steered artists to create work alongside their own interpretation of the word’s nostalgic, dream-like fantasy. 

While many students veered their work towards a literal interpretation of the word, others spun it around and made it more personal, relating it to their families and heritages. 

Evelyn Benitez Suarez ‘25 used her skills to create two oil paintings, creating an homage to her family that immigrated from Mexico to create a better life for themselves and Suarez once she was born. 

“When working on my project idea, I was really lost in the thought of what my future would be like, especially knowing that I had parents and grandparents who came to this country for me to have a better future,” Suarez said. 

“I highlighted my own view on my destiny and my future goals alongside being a first-generation queer woman in a very catholic household,” she added.

Continuing the theme’s relation to family, Kait Dugan ‘25 also shared a special family moment at the gallery reception. 

Dugan’s work “Nana and I” consisted of film photographs taken by her grandmother, then a matching digital image portraying Dugan’s perspective on the same subject. 

“My grandma always wanted to see me pursue what I wanted. She was not an artist by trade, but she loved doing art and would always pay for my lessons,” Dugan shared. “My project was essentially a dedication to her and her art forms that she kind of pushed down to me.” 

“It was always a dream of mine to have our work hanging together in a gallery, and when she came to the gallery reception, we cried. We cried really hard at first,” she added. 

Alongside the project with her grandmother, Dugan also created a set of photographs titled “Passion Project,” showcasing students at Marist University portraying the gallery theme of being lost in a dream. 

“For this project, I took more of a daydream approach. You have people who are incredibly passionate about their trade and interests and get in this groove where the outside world doesn't really exist anymore,” Dugan shared. 

Sydney Sailer ‘25 took inspiration from the outside coming in as her piece consisted of a triptych of three different panels, representing birth, life and death, which she created mainly in the Maker Lab in the Steel Plant. 

“I have always been drawn to windows and the light that comes through, so I wanted to do something like that to represent the dreamy state of the theme,” Sailer said. “Whenever I was in church as a kid, I hated being there, but I always enjoyed looking at the beautiful stained glass windows that always felt like a daydream.” 

With an overwhelming response from students, faculty and family members on opening day, students shared their excitement and the emotions that occurred.

“Last semester, for senior thesis, we had our work hanging in the gallery, but it came down very shortly due to the end of the semester,” shared Sophia DelVecchio ‘25. “This time, since we had a big gallery opening, my mom could come see it with my family, and it was a really nice experience.”