USD Students Go Beyond the Book in New Exhibit

USD Students Go Beyond the Book in New Exhibit

“Beyond the Book: Fresh Perspectives on the Print Collection” is a bold experiment in curatorial participation.

University of San Diego art history student Katherine Ayd ’13 curated the exhibition featuring works from USD’s Print Collection that have been selected and re-interpreted by current undergraduates from a wide variety of majors.

The exhibition runs through May 26 in the Robert and Karen Hoehn Family Galleries in Founders Hall. Hours are noon to 4 p.m. on Tuesday through Sunday and noon to 6 p.m. on Thursday. There is no charge for the exhibit. 

The exhibit features the work of fourteen students representing more than a dozen academic disciplines, hung alongside the work of fourteen artists from the 16th through the 21st centuries. Half of the works are from the Print Collection at USD and half were created by students specifically for this exhibition.

Except for one drawing (Roman de Salvo’s Proposed Cactus Arcade for USD), all of the images are prints, meaning that they are original works, created using various techniques. Among the printmaking techniques on view are woodcuts, etchings, silkscreens, lithographs, and digital inkjet/pigment prints.

Some of these works are highly abstract, such as Joseph Alber’s White Line Square LXXla, while others, such as Cornelis Cort’s (after Frans Floris) The Sale of Esau’s Birthright, demonstrate a representational style that owes much to the Renaissance studies of the human form. Works like these two, made nearly four centuries apart, represent the breadth of choices open to students’ interpretation.

In the same way that the work on display varies, the undergraduate responses featured in this exhibition represent disciplines ranging from mechanical engineering to English, as well as multiple nationalities, unique personal interests and diverse backgrounds.

Beyond the Book aims to make viewers think creatively, while showcasing the varied interests, talents and points of view of USD students who are immersed in a diverse set of academic disciplines.

 

 

 


About the University of San Diego

Strengthened by the Catholic intellectual tradition, we confront humanity’s challenges by fostering peace, working for justice and leading with love. With more than 8,000 students from 75 countries and 44 states, USD is the youngest independent institution on the U.S. News & World Report list of top 100 universities in the United States. USD’s eight academic divisions include the College of Arts and Sciences, the Knauss School of Business, the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, the School of Law, the School of Leadership and Education Sciences, the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, and the Division of Professional and Continuing Education. In 2021, USD was named a “Laudato Si’ University” by the Vatican with a seven-year commitment to address humanity’s urgent challenges by working together to take care of our common home.