SHU students dream up DV8 art exhibit

A young girl in an art studio surrounded by splashes of color, a pair of skeletal drifters sharing a boat ride, a trio of knitted owls on a branch, and a Buddha statue resting in darkness behind a frame of CD cases; these are only a few of the new residents currently living at the DV8 Espresso Bar & Gallery in Greensburg.
Seton Hill University (SHU) students were recently invited to put their creative talent on display in an exhibit of student artwork hosted by DV8 and managed by two of its interns, both students at SHU.


By Chris Ulicne,
Staff Writer
A young girl in an art studio surrounded by splashes of color, a pair of skeletal drifters sharing a boat ride, a trio of knitted owls on a branch, and a Buddha statue resting in darkness behind a frame of CD cases; these are only a few of the new residents currently living at the DV8 Espresso Bar & Gallery in Greensburg.
Seton Hill University (SHU) students were recently invited to put their creative talent on display in an exhibit of student artwork hosted by DV8 and managed by two of its interns, both students at SHU.
The exhibit began shortly after the deadline for submissions on March 3, and will remain on display until April 7, when the artists who participated will be invited to interact with visitors at an evening reception.
The exhibit, which includes drawings, sculptures, paintings, photographs, and other types of artwork, has already piqued the interest of a few DV8 customers.
�It’s neat,� said friends Julia Brooks and Andrea Gaffney, both 18, two visitors to the gallery who were some of the first to see the works on display.
�It looks like the wall is vomiting,� said Brooks, referring to one of the pieces.
The art show was planned by seniors Dante Ciolfi and Joel Brown, a Setonian contributor, as part of their internships at DV8. There were no exhibits planned for March, so they introduced the idea to DV8 owners Terrie and Mark Barill and received approval to go ahead and manage their own art show, said Ciolfi.
Ciolfi and Brown posted flyers around campus and spoke to several art classes and art faculty members to publicize the event. They chose dreams as the theme for the exhibit, and they set up specific guidelines for students who were interested in participating: each student could only submit one piece that could be no larger than 18 by 24 inches. But they decided to let the students decide how much they would charge visitors interested in purchasing their works, said Ciolfi.
Ciolfi said they chose dreams as the theme because they wanted to host an exhibit that �could hold a bunch of different types of art� and give the artists plenty of freedom in their submissions.
Owner Terrie Barill said that DV8 hosts six art shows a year, both for groups and for individuals. She said DV8 is currently planning an annual juried show and a Halloween exhibit, in addition to invitational and internship shows. The subject matter is usually chosen by the artists involved.
Barill said she didn’thave any expectations for the exhibit that Ciolfi and Brown put together, but she supported their efforts from the beginning, according to Ciolfi.
�It’s a great idea,�said Barill. She said that it would be �neat� to make the SHU student art show an annual event at DV8.
Ciolfi expressed a similar interest.
�I hope this could be an annual thing … so there’s a whole network going on between the students and the public. Hopefully the students will meet someone who wants to purchase their artwork,� said Ciolfi.
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