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The GW Hatchet

AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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After the fall

Searching for art on campus? Look no further the Smith Hall windows.

The exhibition space on the first floor of Smith Hall of Art will continue to host showings of art by University students and faculty, said Patrick McDonough, spokesman and organizer for the exhibitions. Along with fellow graduate students, McDonough will organize art displays throughout the spring semester.

The exhibition space – which was renovated by art students and faculty last summer – hosted shows every few weeks throughout the fall semester, including a massive mural display erected on a central wall by graduate painting student Sarah Koss and a holiday art sale where GW-affiliated artists sold work to raise funds for the space.

Putting the space to use this year seemed natural, said McDonough, referencing the large display windows as ideal for drawing in passersby on campus.

“Fall Detritus,” the current show exhibited in Smith Hall on display through January, features a collection of work from graduate and undergraduate art students. The show was first displayed in early December. The reception launching the exhibition, he said, drew a crowd of art students and faculty, but McDonough said he still hopes to attract more viewers.

“Mainly people who are affiliated with the department made it out to the opening, but a lot of people are seeing the show, probably because of the visibility of the space,” he said.

After a semester of facilitating art shows every two weeks, “we wanted to do a little bit more of an informal show,” said McDonough of “Fall Detritus,” which features selected work from participating artists’ portfolios.

“A lot of artists took the opportunity to do sight-specific and ephemeral work,” he said, adding that the collection includes several wall drawings.

The grad students and the “most advanced” art undergraduates displaying work were all students in the advanced studio seminar first semester, he said. While he said earlier shows were more intensely curated, this collection – with a more open theme – allowed artists to volunteer any piece as long as it had not been exhibited earlier in the semester. The pieces in “Fall Detritus” are “not the leftovers, but the stuff that was on the sidelines all semester,” he said.

McDonough looks forward to the upcoming show, which will go up in February.

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