By Greta Chiocchetti and Kirsten Coachman
For the second year in a row, Academy of Art University’s Spring Show, an elite showcase of student work, was exhibited in a virtual space online.
Launching on Thursday, May 20, the Academy’s annual event displays the best of the best from across its 22 academic departments. With a dedicated virtual space to utilize, the heightened Spring Show experience brings together both industry guests and art aficionados alike for a truly unique—and interactive—look at top student work.
“Spring Show is the culmination of years of hard work by extremely talented graduate and undergraduate students,” said Academy President Dr. Elisa Stephens. “Academy students work harder than they ever thought they could. Our classes are rigorous—taught by some of the finest minds working in today’s creative industries.”
Anticipating a second virtual Spring Show due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, departments, like the School of Graphic Design, had their students take steps to further individualize their portal page for visitors.
“We’re spending more time developing online personas for our students, including introductory videos,” said School of Graphic Design Director Phil Hamlett. “Our students have always presented work online, but now that it is the exclusive channel for representation, we are able to drive more traffic to their portfolios.”
Presenting Spring Show in an online format has many advantages, including a greater industry and audience reach across the globe.
“Being online means industry all over the world have access to the students’ work and information,” said School of Fashion Executive Director Simon Ungless. “So many more people get to see the work without the pressure of travel and limited time.”
“Although fine art is a discipline that is meant to be viewed and appreciated in person, galleries and art consultants have long used the online presence to display and sell works of art,” the School of Fine Art shared via an email statement. “The online presence will give students a much broader audience.”
Throughout the summer, Art U News will highlight a selection of student work showcased at this year’s Spring Show from each of the academic departments at the Academy. See all of this year’s work at springshow.academyart.edu.
Follow Art U News on Twitter and Instagram to find out when the latest installments of our Spring Show 2021 series are published.