Sarah Lawrence College

Congratulations to First Year Awardee Samirah Aissaoui!! I’m very interested in the physical structures that surround us, the perceptions we have of them, and the atmospheres they evoke. I love to play with color and the different atmospheres evoked by different palettes. I’m very drawn to the color blue and the different variations of it. It’s the color of the natural expanses of the sea and sky, but it’s also a very digital color. The blue screen of a blank TV or the blue light from a phone, blue is also the color of the expanses of the internet and airwaves. To me, blue is the color of the past and the future, many memories of mine contain a hazy shade of blue. I love to explore the realm that exists within the intersection of reality, memory, and dreams. I use image degradation and repetition to convey the ephemerality and eventual degradation of memories and the physical locales that inform them. Images: On A Walk Abstract Video/Short Film Lines Abstract Video Runtime: 2:28 Neighbor’s House, Late Summer beach day Watercolor on paper Cemetery Scene (1) 3-Layer Screenprint eroding stone Several layer ghost screenprint Homes at Night 4 photo prints stitched together Bronx River Pathway Pen on paper Nightsky on Nightshift Pen on paper #slcvasa

Moser Marsh Annual Fellowship in the Visual Arts and Visual Culture Awardee Lucy Millar, congratulations!! From the moment I began to create art, I found a spark, and it hasn’t left me. I am not confined by any certain medium; while most of my background is rooted in drawing, the skills I have developed are applicable to both painting and printmaking, the latter of which being my favorite. No matter the medium, most of my works have to do with religion, the ancient world, nostalgia, grief, queerness, and the human form. My pieces are spaces for rumination on how my life could have diverged in different directions given different circumstances. I frequently ask myself what if questions such as: if I were born earlier, what opportunities would I have missed because I am a woman?; if I hadn’t lost my faith, if I had lived up to the expectations my relatives had set for me rather than break out of those constraints, where would I be? Art allows me to look deeper into who I am, how I think, how I cope with uncomfortable scenarios, and how I grow and change. In particular, my religious works come out of a great interest in worship and dedication to a higher power. Similarly to my inner ‘ifs’, I think about a series of hows: how us humans have chosen to define these saints and gods in our own image; how features of the ones we love subconsciously appear in our works, as if their likeness becomes our personal idea of beauty and perfection. Grief manifests itself in my works that address losing my childhood or relationships no longer being the same because of personal, often painful, growth. I believe art can not go without meaning, and I think every piece must relate back to the creator as the idea came out of their mind, making it their own. Throughout my inner ‘ifs’ that tackle what could have been, my external ‘hows’ that deal with what has happened, and my theme of grief that addresses how things are now, I have immersed myself in developing a style and message that is uniquely my own. #slcvasa

Congratulations to Sahara Kai Curry, this year’s Geraldine Putman Clark Prize recipient!⁠ ⁠ My paintings interpret memories through the intertwining of imagination, internal dialogue, and physical reality. Working primarily with acrylic paint, I build up layers to create textured, uneven surfaces. Each piece often begins with a large abstract underpainting where I process the event or emotion that will unfold in the work. I am more attached to the process of painting than to the final product. Messages to myself are often inscribed within the underpainting or on the back of the canvas, written as personal notes to myself and later concealed most likely by figurative representations of myself. This layering creates a sense of privacy within the work, allowing me to be vulnerable while still able to present them publicly. I invite viewers to bring their own interpretations to each piece. The tension between personal meaning and public perception and the balance of subjectivity within painting is what continues to allow me to question and further motivate me to paint more. ⁠ ⁠ Images: ⁠ "Magic Dub” 30 x 38, Acrylic on Canvas, 2025⁠ “Sticky Situation” 16 x 24, Acrylic and tar gel on canvas, 2024⁠ “Sunday” 40 x 48, Acrylic on canvas, 2025⁠ “All the time, for some reason” 30 x 40, Acrylic on canvas 2024⁠ “2006” 24 x 30, Acrylic on canvas, 2026⁠ “NE Connection” 23 x 31, Acrylic on canvas, 2026⁠ “Friends” 2025, 30 x 40 Acrylic on canvas, 2025⁠ “Playing” 2025, Acrylic on canvas, 2025⁠ ⁠ #slcvasa

Senior Studio x Art History book launch Party! This book is a collaboration between students in Senior Studio and Art History, mentored by faculty members John O’Connor, Sarah Hamill, and Katie Bell. Over the 2025-26 academic year, Art History students met with students in Senior Studio, interviewing them about their creative practices and processes through studio visits. These personal conversations are reflected in the final essays, which, in addition to bringing to the fore the artists’ voice, contextualize Senior Studio exhibitions and raise questions about how their art speaks to a broader world. #slcvasa

Some photos from our very impressive open studios reception! Every student artist and class brought out their best this year. Our talented student body should feel very proud of themselves!⁠ ⁠ #slcvasa

Huge thank you to all the faculty, visiting artists, and student artists who participated in the critique panels last week! #slcvasa

This year’s Visual Arts Review was truly something special! Huge congratulations to the editors and all the students featured. ⁠ ⁠ Special thanks to Sahara Curry, Nason Hubbard, Diego Jaime, Alex Plants, and Nyah Maudrina Raposo.⁠ Cover art by Martin Oliver. ⁠ ⁠ #slcvasa

Thank you to the visiting artists, our professors, and our students artists for an amazing critique week! Everyone was blown away by the talent of our student body! #slcvasa

It was an honor to have back Elin O’hara Slavick to give a lecture for crit week! Slavick gave a fantastic lecture that showed the journey of her work throughout the years. Slavick received her BA from Sarah Lawrence in 1988. She fell in love with photography through working with Joel and studied film history with Gil Perez, and poetry with Tom Lux, Jean Valentine and Jane Cooper. She received her MFA in Photography at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, receiving the top MFA prize for 2D work in 1992. elinohara #slcvasa

Congratulations to our final round of Senior Show Exhibitions! Our artists in order: Zoe Baber- “Oracle” Naomi Dix- “State Route 51 North and 202 Loop East” Bella Johnson- “New Tricks” Sahara Curry- “Welcome Back” Anouk Ondine Osborne- “Interstice”

Prof. Katie Bell’s Experiments in Sculptural Drawing course getting ready for Open Studios on the front lawn of Heimbold with a site-specific drawing. #slcvasa

Congratulations to the third round of our Senior Show Exhibitions! Our artists in order: Irandi Zepeda- “DIJES” Elizabeth Guirguis- “Bridging Connections” Maddy Heavens- “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” Vera Meszaros- “Through the Window” Images: Josh Spector #slcvasa