To see artistic creations unlike anything else in the world, you need only walk over to Whitman’s Sheehan Gallery. With around six shows a year: each lasting about two months: Sheehan Gallery displays art from across the world. Sheehan Gallery brings art ranging from cultural artifacts to professional modern art to student produced shows.

With different mediums of expression employed, from oils to sculpture to projection, the Sheehan Gallery is able to accommodate the gamut of artistic expression.

A committee of faculty from different departments oversees Sheehan Gallery. The committee, headed by retiring Ian Boyden, determines what shows come to Sheehan and also oversees the breezeway next to the gallery.

“The committee represents different aspects of college,” said Lecturer of Art Charly Bloomquist. “Various people from different departments sit on the committee; the gallery serves the whole community.”

Shows open with an opening reception in which the artist presents his or her work. Shows often coincide with lectures to supplement the exhibit.

Artists are commissioned to come to Whitman and create a show for the Sheehan Gallery. Among the five shows in Sheehan gallery this year, the school brought controversial artist Buster Simpson who put on the show “Implement Instrument.”

“The college has been fairly successful in bringing interesting and well-known artists into the gallery,” said senior studio art major Rebecca Jensen.
Currently, the senior studio art thesis exhibition is on display at the Sheehan Gallery. With 12 studio art major seniors displaying their final projects in the Sheehan Gallery, the exhibit is a display of student talent and ambition.

“It was very exciting to enter that real gallery space,” said Jensen. Jensen describes her installation, made of sticks, twine, paint and nails, as a “kinesthetic painting: a painting existing in space. The viewer has to move around it to explore it; the artist’s hand is very visible in the project.”

The senior thesis exhibit is the most popular exhibit of the year. “It always has the biggest crowd because everyone wants to see their friend’s work,” said Jensen.

“I’d been playing with things in my studio for so long that to move to the real gallery: the real deal: was very exciting.”

The exhibit represents the culmination of four years of formal study using varying art mediums. “I’m really impressed by some of the jumps a lot of the artists have made this year,” said Jensen. “Courtney Morgan in particular with her Pistolier. It was a really awesome jump from the canvas.”

The exhibit proved to be a learning experience for the seniors. “I have a greater appreciation for the work put into these projects now that I’ve actually had to do one,” said Jensen.

Sheehan Gallery also has an adjacent room that serves as a permanent Japanese tea serving room in which formal tea ceremonies are held.
The senior thesis exhibit will be showing until the end of the school year. Sheehan Gallery is open Tuesday through Friday, noon to 5 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, noon to 4 p.m.