At ‘Crossing Over’ Exhibit, Artists Display Work Made Possible by Scholarships

Colorful pictures and paintings hung on the walls, interrupting the white space that stretched the length of the room. A variety of sculptures were displayed on pedestals, on the floor and dangled from the ceiling.

In the middle of the back wall, an explosion of yellows, blues and other colors covered a large canvas. The collage was made up of various images; some digital and some painted or drawn.

The piece of artwork titled “GOLDEN RULE” was created by UW-Milwaukee sophomore art student Sarah Lothian. She described her piece as a focus on how humans treat the Earth.

“I didn’t start it until I fully moved to Milwaukee this past semester,” said Lothian. “The first couple days I moved in I had nothing to do. It was kind of just a product of a new environment.”

Lothian is one of the art students featured in UWM’s “Crossing Over 2021” exhibition. The annual exhibit displays artwork from undergraduate students of the UWM Peck School of the Arts department of Art and Design who have received a scholarship and/or fellowship award in 2021.

The event highlights artwork created by emerging artists from a broad range of mediums and themes. Acrylic drawings, vibrant paintings and expressive photographs were displayed on the walls; while sculptures of steel, plaster, glass and other materials covered the floorspace.

 UWM has held this yearly event for over a decade and is one of the three student shows this year, according to curator and Union Art Gallery manager Emily Hankins.

“I think supporting artists when they’re making the art is important,” said Hankins. “I think it’s really nice that there’s this space for artists to show their work and put on their resume that they’ve shown work in a place.”

Tatiana Cordova is a sophomore majoring in Digital Studio Practice. Her artwork “Interwoven” is an animated collage that depicts a female subject in a picturesque environment. For Cordova, the reward of being featured in the exhibit, not only came in the form of a scholarship, but also a sense of gratification and reassurance.

“To actually get a scholarship, I’m like, ‘oh, yo, I’m being recognized,’ like, actually I’m doing good,” said Cordova. “As an artist, I feel like sometimes you’ll feel like, I’m putting in all this work, but is it actually good?”

The exhibition opened to the public on Nov. 15. Students and adults came to view the works of the featured artists. Some artists had their work for sale, while others chose to keep them. Lothian and Cordova’s artworks were purchased that night.

The exhibit is in the Union Art Gallery on campus until Dec. 16. It is free to attend, and many students have gone to see it.

UWM student Liz Willis has visited the gallery multiple times and said that it was a good opportunity for the student artists to get exposure.

“It’s really, really nice for the non-artist students to just relax in here,” said Willis.

For Lothian and Cordova, this exhibition and an art degree will assist them in pursuing a career as artists.

“I would love to paint murals and work with different organizations,” said Lothian. “That could either be collaborative art projects or just art projects that we find within our community, and that can help communities develop and move forward.”