Art and Design Alumni Return With Exciting Solo Exhibitions

The department of Art and Design is showcasing the artwork of recent alumni in the months of September and October. The exhibitions are taking place in Finley Gallery on the Montclair State University campus. 

The work of 2022 alum, Sienna Morales was on display from September 23-29. Morales graduated with a BFA in Animation/Illustration and in her work she likes to utilize both traditional and digital art mediums. Her current process of creating art is through her need to experiment and improve her artistic ability. The exhibition included artwork from her time as a student at Montclair, as well as work created in her postgraduate life. The pieces showcased focus on the artist’s experience with trauma, grief, reflection, and emotional expression and how she has dealt with them.

Untitled Self Portrait #2                                                

Lost in the Heat of it All

Morales is currently working as an education coordinator and art instructor with One River School of Art and Design. We look forward to following more of her work and accomplishments in the coming years!

Currently Finley Gallery is showcasing the work of Stephen Saliba  (b. 1992) who graduated in 2017 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Stephen is an artist based in Hamburg, New Jersey.  Stephen was recently in a group exhibition, “Unnatural Intimacies,” at Spring/Break Art Show.  His work explores the varying pathways that lead us all to growth while looking at the uncontrollable moments that enact the self to grow. Stephen’s work is an exploration of the climactic moments that force change and growth on the world around them. Figures celebrate and play on through incalculable variables as they flip, slip, tumble through picnics, and hop blindly over fire walks while turning their heads and surrendering control. His work “It Wasn’t Great, but It Was Ours” is featured above. By casting figures in seemingly lighthearted conditions, he looks to show the nature of today’s world where every variable can bring a persona, livelihood, stream of peace crashing through the protective walls we have each built up. In order to portray these unencumbered responses, motion, layered colors and repetitive forms tumble around figures to evoke an anxious, sensory response through painting. This work will be open for viewing from October 3rd until October 13th so be sure to check out this exhibit while you still can!

Be sure to follow along for the next featured exhibition in the Department of Art and Design’s galleries this upcoming semester!