The studio art department needs help! If we do not act now, a beloved 60 year tradition celebrating Kenyon’s artists will come to a screeching halt. The administration of The Gund is trying to terminate the senior capstone exhibitions. Instead of showing a cumulative body of work, students will only be allowed to show one piece in a drastically smaller space. This decision would negatively impact the entire senior capstone curriculum as well as greatly diminish the incredible time, work, and passion that students devote to produce work they are proud of.  

This will not only detrimentally affect Kenyon’s art department but will negatively impact the community as a whole. The Senior Capstone Exhibition has historically and reliably drawn the largest crowd to the Gund of any opening night. Though the show greatly contributes to gallery attendance at The Gund in the grand scheme of the year, the 15 day Senior Art Exhibition is a tiny portion of the Gund’s yearly schedule (5%). 

 The Gund’s administration has offered little reasoning to the art department about this decision. The administration claims that the decision was made in order to help The Gund attain museum status in the upcoming years. This, they hope, will bring a new level of prestige to the space and college, and attract a new crowd of people to the “museum.” In making this decision, Kenyon is effectively turning its back on all of its current students and their wishes in an attempt to gain the respect of outsiders and outside institutions. 

 The final offense to art students is that this decision has been made without any suitable alternative options in mind. Nor is the Gund making any effort to phase out of the exhibition tradition towards an alternative–which is also missing from the plan. There is no transition–if the Gund had their way, 2024 would be the last time seniors showed their capstone exhibitions. The original intention when building the gallery was to exhibit student and faculty art. Something that is now being abandoned in favor of the Administration has decided what would be best for their plans while neglecting to even consider what would be best for their students. The blatant disregard for students’ success is a sad truth that can be righted by the reversal of this decision. 

 As students, we chose Kenyon. We pay them. We work hard here. And we make sacrifices for the work we do. It is now time that Kenyon chooses us too.