The Gelb Gallery will feature collegiate artists’ work from January 29 to April 13.
A steady stream of students moved in and out of the Gelb Gallery in George Washington Hall (GW) on the evening of Thursday, January 29, pausing beneath bright lights to examine sculptures, paintings, photographs, and digital works at the annual Emerging Artists Show. Conversation filled the space as viewers compared interpretations, pointed out details, and returned to pieces that caught their attention. The exhibition brought together student artists from across Massachusetts, transforming Gelb Gallery into a dynamic display space. Drawing students, faculty, and visitors alike, the show offered artists the opportunity to see their work installed in a professional gallery setting while engaging directly with an audience.
Among the exhibiting artists was Ted Kinservik, a third-year student at Tufts University, who presented two sculptural works: “The Troll” and “The Dragon.”
“‘The Dragon’ was made for summer campers when I worked at a summer camp as a kind of a mascot for them to come together better as a group. ‘The Troll’ is based on Norwegian wood carvings and children’s book images. The initial idea was to have it be poseable and able to put it around corners. I use it to scare my roommates now. It’s based on these trolls that people carve and put in the woods,” said Kinservik.
While the two pieces differ in both form and origin, they reflect Kinservik’s evolving interest in movement, play, and experimentation with new materials.
“For The Troll, it’s felted onto foam like you’d find in an exercise mat. It is wool felted on with a sharp needle, and there’s wire through the joints. It reflects where I’m at as an artist now because I’m working on moving sculpture, poseable sculpture, scaling things up, and bringing in more mediums. The next version will include welding and stop motion puppetry techniques,” said Kinservik.
For many student artists, the Emerging Artists Show marked a rare shift from studio spaces and informal critiques to the controlled environment of a professional gallery. Seeing his work installed in a gallery space was a really meaningful shift for Kinservik.
“Seeing [my art] in an art gallery setting is really cool. I kind of wish some people could pick it up, touch it, move it, whatever. But the better lighting and better posing, we don’t really have facilities like that, so it’s pretty cool. If it’s something that somebody can walk away from and remember, it’s a good visual,” said Kinservik.
Attendees echoed that sense of energy and intention. Elisa Lee ’26, an attendee, reflected on the significance of seeing student work displayed on campus.
“It’s really interesting to see something like this on campus because as students and people interested in majoring in art, it can be hard to navigate what direction to go after college. Seeing stuff like this and seeing the works that are produced makes you question whether there’s a purpose in pursuing this in college, and it’s really incredible,” said Lee.
Attendee Shijun Li ’28 appreciated the exhibition’s embrace of experimentation across media and subject matter.
“I saw a celebration of the extraordinary and the weird things in life. It makes meaning from the ordinary, and if there is no meaning, it creates its own meaning. I saw that across every piece and medium. They were free to do whatever they wanted, and you can really see they had a lot of great ideas and expressed them clearly and intentionally,” said Li.
Lee pointed to the exhibition’s variety of scale and types of media as especially memorable, explaining how different works created distinct emotional responses.
“I really like the rainbow room one with the dragon in the corner because it’s really nostalgic for me. The animation is also cool, and the soundtrack is good for that too. I also really like the big painting piece. It’s different bodies. It’s very colorful. You get a glimpse of each person’s identity from this. Everyone’s artwork has a bit of their identity in it,” said Lee.
Collin Fernandes, a fourth-year student at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, described his work, “The Green Painting, His Gesture for Preservation,” as both a personal exploration and a playful experiment.
“You just have to focus on what you want to work on and make sure you don’t have any outside distractions when you’re painting. I did take some risks because I don’t usually use all one color. I put a little pop of yellow because sometimes you need contrast with one-color paintings. It’s a little oversaturated, but I wanted it to feel fun. I try to make paintings fun because sometimes paintings are boring, and I like to make things fun,” said Fernandes.
