"MCLA’s location provided me with endless opportunities to gain professional experience in the arts. I had a lot of fun working as a tour guide at MASS MoCA and in the education department at the Berkshire Museum, which allowed me to figure out what kinds of jobs I would like and to meet a lot of interesting arts professionals along the way. MCLA’s small size helped me develop close working relationships with my favorite professors who always took time to advise me on academic and professional concerns. I really felt like they were with me all the way."
Monica Henry ’07 Education Coordinator, Clark Art Institute
News & Press Releases
Oct. 10, 2008
NORTH ADAMS, MA – In celebration of the new art major at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, MCLA Gallery 51 will present “Passages and People: Work by MCLA Students,” in one of the Holden Street Annex Galleries as part of North Adams Open Studios, Oct. 18-19.
“Passages and People: Work by MCLA Students” features the work of current MCLA students Jamal Ahamad ’11, Jordan Pagan ’09 and Natalie Tottenham ’10. Also expected to exhibit is former student Aaron Andrews ’08.
“These students make time during their busy college lives to create art that is not for a class or an assignment, but driven by their own need to make what’s in their imagination come to life,” said Melanie Mowinski, assistant professor of visual art at MCLA. “Sometimes it’s a realistic portrait of a friend, other times it’s a funked-up illustration of a family member. Students also experiment with mixed-media and collage, seeking artist mentors in the community.”
According to Mowinski, Pagan’s work features a technique learned from North Adams artist Debi Pendell, and Tottenham entered work that she completed while studying abroad this summer in France.
MCLA Gallery 51 Annex is on Holden Street in North Adams. It will be open in conjunction with North Adams Open Studios, Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 18-19, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
