Manan Sarupria, Special to The Denisonian–
Recently, a new art exhibit has opened in the Bryant Arts Center which features pieces created by students at Denion.
The exhibition is titled “These Realities We Create,” and encapsulates the experience of storytelling, as art majors share an essence of their worlds. It represents the influence that different themes can have on a person’s life. Some of the themes include identity, pop culture, science, and technology.
The exhibition showcases artworks made by Alex Noel ‘26, Amy Nguyen ‘26, Courtney Simmons ‘25, Mark Moore ‘26, Mason Allen ‘25, Phoenix Davis-Bailey ‘25, Renai Heath ‘25, Sodahny Sip ‘25, and Tra Vo ‘25. The display features a variety of mixed-medium work, while also incorporating student collaborations.
Davis-Bailey, a visual arts major, brought the curation to reality. He aimed to showcase his love for storytelling through this project “both as an artistic practice and as a way to engage people with the art.”
Davis-Bailey started planning for this exhibition last semester after a trip to New York for senior visual art students.
“I was inspired by all the art we had seen and the galleries we visited,” said Davis-Bailey. “Spending time with my classmates made me realize how I wanted to showcase some of their work for those who hadn’t got the opportunity to do so beyond class critiques.”
With a clear vision for his project, Davis-Bailey created a form so that he could review student submissions and asked select students to provide artists statements, which he then consolidated into a catalogue.
He aimed to reduce the cognitive-dissonance for viewers by placing bodies of work that align along similar themes, mediums, or even messages.
An instance he mentioned is at the entrance of the exhibition. “The series of paper dolls made by participating artists represent a future version of themselves where they could be cyborgs, and so I put that next to a work that had an artist doing a series of makeup looks to present them in different universes which fits into the theme of repetition of different versions of yourselves.”
The exhibition aims to show the power of creating a narrative representing a diverse body of work.
“It’s a great opportunity to have my work shown and look at the art scene made by other students at Denison,” said Tra Vo ‘25.
“I was thinking about my relationship with technology and the possibilities of the future and the sense of optimism and emptiness created by it,” said Keith Allyn Spencer, associate Professor and the chair of Visual Arts, while observing the work.
The exhibition opened on Feb. 20 and will run until Feb. 27. The display can be found on the fourth floor of the Bryant Arts Center in the gallery.