Art on Campus: Moving Forward

Lowell Thomas, as pictured in the building of his namesake. Photo by Emily Stellakis '24.

Dotted throughout the walls of Marist College are paintings and plaques that represent the history of the campus and the legacy of past students and faculty. In Lowell Thomas, an exhibit shows who the building’s namesake was and details his impact on Marist and the world at large as a journalist. The library hosts many older visual pieces, including covers from the Poughkeepsie Regatta and various maps from world history. Even Marist’s own architecture serves its purpose in preserving history.

This is, by no doubt, a positive thing; art connects us to our past and has its benefits in contributing to an academic atmosphere. However, the vast majority of art on campus is preserving the past rather than celebrating the future to come. Lowell Thomas, whose efforts are celebrated both in his own building and in a Cannavino Library exhibit, passed away decades ago, and many of the maps, magazine covers, and plaques serve more as historical reminders than pieces that light up a room.

In essence, much of Marist’s art serves as an excellent time capsule, but much of it fails to acknowledge how far its community has come as much as it does capture where it came from -- a time that is now long gone.

Both digital and traditional art are taught and celebrated on the Marist campus, with many students opting to major in the visual arts or experience them in their own ways. However, between the historic dioramas and antique photographs, there is a severe lack of places for students to express their own art on campus — a concept that has seen success elsewhere. Showcasing student artwork in various places could not only brighten some of the duller spots on campus but also communicate the growing and ever-changing status of the Marist community as a whole. Unlike historical pieces, student-made artwork would reflect the present and could be regularly changed to represent the community’s evolving ideas and values.

Sculptures, while more of a space investment, have their own distinct benefits. Marist boasts many open areas — the campus green, Fusco green, and outside St. Peter’s, to name three — that can be accurately summarized as simply “lawn.” Just like with visual art, even minimal sculptures or more spatial art can serve as symbols for ideas or provoke thought among students and faculty.

Thankfully, one place on campus — Steel Plant — celebrates student art on its walls, with canvases decorating the walls of the café and full exhibits celebrating Marist’s strong fashion program. Steel Plant’s café sees people studying, working, and enjoying smoothies in an atmosphere made by the students for the students.

Historical art isn’t something to erase — the Lowell Thomas exhibit does provide ample history of an important figure in the Marist community, and the library hosts many surprisingly antique paintings — but shifting towards art that celebrates the current Marist would, by all means, make our campus more of an accurate representation of its mission: a modern, 21st-century space.