Stepping Stones

Melody Martin '09 (York, Pa.) has seen her hard work in the classroom pay off just weeks after graduation. Several pieces of her artwork were chosen by YorkArts and displayed this summer in downtown York.

"If it weren't for the time and effort I put into my assignments, my paintings would never have been on display for the community to see," she said. 

Martin, along with her senior classmates in fine arts, were required to exhibit a cohesive body of their work during their last semester of study at York. At this spring's show, which was designed to launch students into the world of the working artist and the professionally presented exhibition, Jess McPherson, the gallery director at YorkArts (founded in 1990 to support local artists), saw Martin's work.

"When my schedule permits, I try to make it to senior art shows all over the region to check out young, talented artists like Martin," McPherson said. "Senior and undergraduate shows should be taken seriously by students, because you never know who is going to be in the audience."

When McPherson saw Martin's artwork, she was impressed with the cohesiveness of her entire body of work. 

"While she offered portraits, landscapes and even an artist's book, nothing seemed disjointed or easily stood out as a classroom assignment," she said. 

Ten of those standout paintings were showcased this summer in the OffCenter Grill at Yorktowne Hotel, one of the auxiliary hanging spaces for YorkArts. 

"It's pretty exciting, because it is a solo show," said Martin. "I'm hoping this will be a great stepping stone to other things, as the Senior Show at York College was for this!" 

While Martin was the only York College artist whose work was on display at the Yorktowne Hotel, three other art students (Matthew Artz '09, Tori DeRosa '09 and Rita King '10) had their art showcased this year at the YorkArts "Emerging Visions" juried exhibit celebrating the work of regional undergraduate artists. McPherson believes school shows and exhibits like theirs are great ways for students to build professional relationships earlier on in their careers. 

Martin agrees.

She is still receiving emails from people who picked up her business card at the Senior Show. In addition, she has already sold some of her work, most notably, to the College's Education Department.

"A lot of schools teach you how to paint but forget about the business end of things," she said. "York College prepares you to be an all-around professional no matter what you plan to do with your degree."  

Martin is shown in front of her painting titled "Farang," which was purchased by the Education Department this summer. "Farang" is inspired by a photo from Martin's childhood in Thailand where she was born and lived until age 12. Two of the boys are Thai and the other was her American brother.