As an intern for Merrimack College’s McCoy Gallery, Liza Santerre ’25 has had plenty of experience organizing and presenting art exhibitions on campus. This semester’s exhibit, however, is unlike anything she or the Department of Visual and Performing Arts has taken on before.
Starting Friday, Feb. 21, the entire Rogers Center for the Arts atrium will transform into one big art exhibition showcasing the latest pieces from the Western Avenue Studios in Lowell, Mass. It will feature more than 120 pieces from 50 different artists, far exceeding anything the McCoy Gallery has hosted before.
“Western Avenue Studios is one of the biggest concentrations of artists in the area,” explained Jonathan Latiano, associate professor and director of the studio arts program. “They have over 250 studios. We got an incredible response from them, so much so that the McCoy Gallery can’t contain it. We’re bringing this exhibition out into the Rogers atrium and are activating the entire space.”
Despite the scope of the exhibit, Santerre said she’s been having the time of her life working alongside the artists and VPA staff.
“It’s been a really collaborative experience,” she said. “It’s not just hanging up the paintings – we get to examine the artwork and bond over what we’re seeing.”
Santerre is an artist and writer herself, currently double majoring in English and Art/Art History. Her pieces were previously exhibited in Merrimack’s student art showcases.
“I typically work in 3D art,” she said. “They try to reflect the main themes I write in my stories. It’s helped me a lot working through either writer’s block or an art block – I can go to one or the other and work out those challenges.”
Once the VPA began accepting internship applications last year, Santerre jumped at the opportunity.
“It’s been a fantastic experience for many reasons,” she said. “It has a lot of different opportunities within itself. There’s this personal one-on-one time I get with artists and I get to talk about their experiences, where they started and how they got successful.”
One of the previous exhibits Santerre helped put on was “Little Green” by painter Resa Blatman.
“It featured these really beautiful oil paintings,” she explained. “They depicted green moss and some of them had this really vibrant pink in the background. We ended up painting the whole back wall of the gallery that shade of pink so it really made her images pop.”
Due to the sheer scope of the upcoming Western Avenue Studios showcase, Santerre won’t be painting any walls this time around.
“There are so many styles of work and the challenge is bringing them together and making them collaborate,” she said. “The artists, I believe, didn’t work together to make their pieces, so we’re going to try and make it work in this one space.”
The exhibition is being held in partnership with the Arts and Business Council of Greater Boston. An opening reception is planned for Friday, Feb. 21.
“We see them as an exciting future partner for Merrimack’s student artists,” explained Latiano. “They have their hands in everything in the area, not just fine art but theater and music.”
