Central Connecticut State University celebrates the talent of students to showcase their skillfully made artwork.
Held in the Chen Art Gallery in Maloney Hall, the 2025 Capstone Student Exhibition, displays artwork from Capstone B.A. students in Art, according to a Central press release. It features the work of students Brianna Kelley, Dinamaria Pacè, Kathy La, Justin Torres and Michelle Carrasquillo in the Main Gallery. The Inner Gallery also included artwork from graduate students Celina Marquis, Michael Tino and Philip Hargrave. The exhibition was curated by students taking the Spring 2025 Art 490 Curatorship course with Glenn LaVertu, according to the press release.
The featured artwork demonstrated the dedication and talent of the participating students across multiple mediums including acrylic paper, modeling clay, oil painting, digital print, pastels, ceramics, acrylics on canvas, watercolor paper and welded steel.
All the artists’ work fell into a similar theming across each of their pieces. Pacè’s had a bright, cartoonish Pop Art style with themes of melancholic emotions. Carrasquillo’s were abstract, with an almost Salvador Dali quality as they depicted ancient humanoid figures. La’s paintings were soft and dreamlike in their portrayal of mythological creatures from Chinese folklore. Kellely’s prints were cleanly detailed with character and weapon designs, giving the sense of a larger story at play. Torres’ work had an eerie, chaotic feeling in each of the rough, deliberate strokes.
Tino’s sculptures had a remarkable amount of detail that gave both of them a nice sense of presence that must have taken a lot of time to complete. Marquis’ paintings displayed a careful eye for creating realistic dimensions and attention to color. Hargrave’s steel sculptures were dynamic and emotive in every aspect of how the bodies were positioned.
At a reception held on May 1, an award ceremony was held. Guest juror Peter Albano from Visual Arts Manager of Real Art Ways in Hartford, CT selected and presented two awards to the featured students. Torres’ piece “Carousel” won the honorable mention and Carasquillo’s “Brains and Nautiloids” won best in show. It was also announced that Pacè’s “Painful Crown” would be displayed for a limited time in the New Britain Museum of American Art.
The exhibition will be open from April 28 to May 7.
