Philadelphia, PA – A special annual event for Moore College of Art & Design seniors is going virtual. The traditional Senior Show exhibition, where student artists present their work to the public and potential employers in The Galleries at Moore, will become a dynamic legacy event in digital space to honor the entire graduating Class of 2020. The exhibition launches Friday, May 8, 2020 at Moorethesis.com.
Titled The Class of 2020, the exhibition provides a digital platform to promote the outstanding work of all BFA students graduating this year, as well as three graduating MFA/MA students in Moore’s Socially Engaged Art programs, to showcase their thesis projects to the world. All undergraduate majors are represented in the exhibition: Animation & Game Arts, Art Education, Art History, Curatorial Studies, Fashion Design, Fine Arts, Graphic Design, Illustration, Interior Design and Photography & Digital Arts.
“In the wake of the unexpected closure of our beloved campus and The Galleries at Moore, which host our annual thesis exhibitions, we are thrilled to find a new way to honor the exceptional work and achievements of our 2020 graduating students,” said Cecelia Fitzgibbon, president of Moore College of Art & Design. “Our dedicated staff and faculty have collaborated over the past few weeks to create this online legacy project, as a professional resource for our students and a future time capsule of the stunning and significant work they did during their years at Moore. We invite the hundreds of employers and collectors who previously attended this show, as well as the public, to see the remarkable work created by our talented and resilient graduates.”
The brand-new website was built to formally highlight the work of Moore’s talented students and to provide a well-designed platform for each individual graduate, effectively creating an online “calling card” in lieu of the loss of several in-person networking events for undergraduate and graduate students, given the ongoing COVID-19 public health crisis.
“This show marks an important moment for our graduating class and is critical to their successes as they venture out into their professional fields,” said Gabrielle Lavin Suzenski, Rochelle F. Levy director, The Galleries at Moore. “With the help of our dedicated Galleries team, we continue to treat this virtual experience as we would any in-person exhibition, with the same expectations around presenting only the highest visual and interactive quality of work and writing to our visitors and extended community.”
The Galleries staff were appointed as personal gallery representatives for each senior and graduate student, and helped the students prepare images of their artwork for upload to the site, as well as the accompanying information. Staff from the Locks Career Center worked with the students to prepare their resumes. The Art Shop at Moore will handle sales of student artwork, just as it does during a traditional in-person Senior Show, through the always-open online portal at moore.edu/theartshop.
