Margaret Lee (GRAD) is one of seven students in the University's graduate Studio Art program who put on an art exhibition in the Spingold Theater Center's Dreitzer Gallery last Wednesday. A painter who experiments with the "absurdities in life," Lee told justArts that she overheard someone saying absurd statements in a bar once and "created [one of her pieces] around it." Lee said that she deals with "darker subject matter" but leaves the "colors more playful."

Katherine Spencer (GRAD), another student in the exhibition, focused on painting but explained that her "earlier works were sculptural." For this show, she noted that she focused on natural scenes, such as "landscapes from imagination," she said in an interview with justArts.

She went on to explain the unchanging element of the landscape: "I am interested in what life was like when I was a child as well as history and things that have been consistent."

All of the students who put on the exhibition-Nicole Speciale (GRAD), Alyssa Lewis (GRAD), Andrea Harris (GRAD), Carolyn Burns (GRAD), Milcah Bassel (GRAD), Spencer and Lee-each expressed a unique and vibrant point of view.

According to the Brandeis website, the University's "graduate program in Studio Art focuses on painting and sculpture and emphasizes independent work achieved through critical interaction with faculty and visiting artists." These elements were all present in the show.

Lewis is a midyear and thus had only been in the graduate program for 2 months, yet her works were thought-provoking and exciting. Lewis explained that she "rests somewhere in between painting and sculpture."

In one of her mixed-media works, Lewis put an assortment of materials on canvas, including "ripped up drawings" that had been favorably received.

To add order to the chaotic element of the work, Lewis sprayed air freshener over the piece as a final touch. The interesting addition seemed to serve as a unifying scent to the fragmented piece. Lewis went on to talk about how "reproduced works tend to lose individuality."

Her goal, as she put it, was to "become the machine." For one of her other works, Lewis laid out Cheerios into a honeycomb design as an example of her meticulously mechanized process.

Overall, the graduate students put on a fantastic show. It was exciting talking to the artists about their work and gaining insight into their creative processes and intended goals. No one artist stood out more than the rest, and I eagerly await their future efforts.