This is Our SLU
by students of Saint Louis University
Sept. 7 – Oct. 6, 2018
The Gallery at The Kranzberg
In today’s ever-changing world, there are many issues constantly being brought forth to be heard from all over the globe. These issues are voiced through social media platforms such as the internet, news, and radio in the hopes of exposing the issues and expanding the public’s knowledge.
Saint Louis University prides itself on diversity and open-mindedness of its attending students, faculty, and staff. One major key point SLU expresses is on its ‘Oath of Inclusion’ where students embrace all walks of life such as race, ethnicity, religion, sex, and age to the surrounding community with open arms through the means of unity; the oath embraces everyone.
At the core of SLU’s campus stands the Clock Tower, a focal point for where the oath actively takes place on campus. For the last few years, the Clock Tower has been the center point on the campus of gatherings of students, faculty, staff and the surrounding community to express their voices over current issues such as; police brutality, shootings and other nationwide events to university problems such as the Clock Tower Accords and other various events.
This piece was chosen to symbolize the sense of change that is encouraged through the clock tower’s imagery which embodies the possibility of change that the university offers to its students, faculty, staff, and community through unification. This allows us to make the change in the world for a better tomorrow.
After all, “This is our SLU” and we stand as one.
-Rebecca Riley
SLU is not defined by its strength and renown as an institution. The core of Saint Louis University is its community, which Reach strives to echo. If the Oath of Inclusion is intended to mirror the student experience, it follows that our relationships to one another are an essential component to both. Experiencing SLU without it isn’t really SLU. It’s a hollow tumult that pushes the impression that there’s nothing more, which is far from the truth. Community is built, not always in grandiose and life-changing events, but through those serene moments of shared immersion. This is what I’ve attempted to capture through Reach: the peace of knowing you’ve gone from my SLU to our SLU.
-Emily Zoernig
When I first came to SLU I was in the Physical Therapy major and thought that’s what I wanted to do. After a year and 30 shadowing hours, and plenty more hours of thinking and dwelling of my unhappiness with the major, I decided that physical therapy wasn’t for me. I then found Graphic Design through my love of drawing and art that has been with me since I ever could remember. I was able to find these “higher truths” by looking inside myself, but also by understanding those around me. I felt lost and alone when I did not know what to do. Then, I found great friends who helped me pursue my passion and realize what I wanted to do. My work demonstrates one line of the oath specifically. The line that spoke to me the most was, “we find higher truths when we seek to understand the complexity of our neighbors’ identities…” My work shows a reflection of a character who transitioned from being lost and sad to being happy and able to see his future align. The transition was able to happen by embracing the identities of my closest friends to find higher truths in them which allowed to find higher truths about myself. I am always able to be completely myself around the people I am closest too. It is easy to pursue my passions when I have those people around me.
-Nick Cleveringa
This particular piece has a lot of meaning to me, as does the oath of inclusion. As a new student this past year, I had to make many adjustments to the life I once knew, and to climb many unforeseen obstacles. My eyes were opened over the course of a year to the world around me, as I grew like the center tree. Each aspect of this artwork is representative of the places I am going and the places I have been. I, like the elevator in the painting, will overcome, and continue to strive to be the best I can be, and have a bright future with the help of my education and newfound knowledge. Many of the symbols in the painting are meant to show the connectivity of not only students, but people in the city of St. Louis. I was born and raised in the area and it truly means a lot to be able to design an oil painting of this magnitude. My hope is that because of its size, it will immerse the viewer in the experience of the light to dark and that the color and twisting tree will guide the audience’s eyes from the bottom left to top right.
-Abigail Schlegl
The oath of inclusion talks about embracing people, challenging world views, enriching culture, fostering a welcoming community, and working for social justice. My work relates to this inclusion in a different way than expected. I went around campus and took various buildings and spots and either drew or photographed them for this project. Around these buildings and on these grounds is where the majority of embracing, challenging, enriching, fostering and working happens. I wanted to show their beauty as best I could through my art and hopefully gain them some more appreciation.
-Kaitlin Raftery
Students and Heroes was created to honor and thank those who selflessly served our country and decided to further expand their sense of purpose with a college degree. It is also to thank those who have taken the step of being college students as well as future airmen and soldiers, that upon completion of their undergraduate degrees will go into the military field as second lieutenants and lead others to continue to defend and protect this nation.
–Mirna Lopez
I’d like to express the statement “this is our SLU”, by creating a canvas made of found materials (reclaimed wood), upon it, the outline of a hand holding a raspberry.
The canvas is mean to express a myriad of backgrounds unique to each individual at SLU. The hand represents the individuals of SLU and their actions, the raspberry a piece of fruit and food easily shared. The taste of raspberry is provided by a chemical that also gives the galaxy its flavor. With this knowledge in mind I’m trying to convey that we the individuals of SLU together are reaching for universe and all it holds at SLU.
–Michael Andrus
My goal is to address the topic of we are SLU by using the students of SLU. I am going to have five mirrors of different sizes and shapes. For the top one that would show a viewer’s face, I plan on replacing the mirror with a painting that resembles a shattered mirror (and maybe for the bottom left one too). Two of the other mirrors will be shattered glass or altered in some way and the one in a circle will be a colored mirror. I took inspiration from some pieces I really enjoyed looking at and hearing Melissa Stein explain the process of and plan on having layers of whitewash and writing on the frames with words that relate to “we are SLU.” I want this art to be a chance for people to look in a mirror and see something different, something they don’t expect. We are SLU…maybe some will look and see just that or others will see how we need to change.
–Triana Gorman
