Upcoming NESAD gallery features artwork by Suffolk alumni

On Thursday, the Suffolk University Art Gallery will be presenting “A Life Designed,”  an exhibit featuring the work of seven alumni of the Masters in Graphic Design program. The gallery will show both professional and personal works of each artist in attendance, and is one of 11 exhibitions showcased at Suffolk annually.

The show was organized by Rita Daly, the director of the Masters of Arts in Graphic Design program and Keith Kitz, an associate professor. One of the exhibition’s purposes is to show current graphic design majors what their future could potentially look like, as well as bring more alumni back to campus.

“We’ve been curating this for a few months,” said Kitz in an interview with The Suffolk Journal. “We kind of did a preliminary review of the work to make sure it was of the caliber we wanted to show in the exhibition… It was very important for us to show the strong work that they’re doing professionally and strong work they’re doing in their personal life. You want to highlight the individuals but also want to make sure we’re showing the best and the brightest of who we are.”

“Our alums go on to do really interesting things,” said gallery director Deborah Davidson in an interview with The Journal. “It’s really useful and fruitful for current students to see what life is like afterwards, not only professionally but to actually experience the work in person.”

Davidson also spoke on how beneficial the gallery can be to promoting communication between the alumni and current graphic design students.

“The gallery is the perfect place for an alumni event,” said Davidson. “It could be used more, so hopefully this show of alums from various years will attract alums who are in the Boston area to come and connect.”

Davidson mentioned the appeal of the gallery applies to all disciplines at Suffolk, due to the nature of our quick-changing and media heavy culture.

“As you know, we live in a visual culture,” said Davidson. “It’s really important that students and the people, you know anybody, be conversant in visual language.”

This is only the second year the gallery has been located directly on Suffolk’s campus, due to the relocation of the New England School of Art and Design (NESAD) from 75 Arlington Street to the Sawyer Building during the 2017-2018 academic year.

“Since [NESAD] became part of Suffolk 20 plus years ago, there’s always been a gallery in the Art & Design program, and we moved here, to campus in just two years,” said Davidson. “Even though we were only 20 minutes away, to have faculty and the community be able to interact in a more fluid way with the rest of the school is great.”

The Art Gallery, which is a part of the Art and Design department is located on the sixth floor of the Sawyer Building. Following the opening of “A Life Designed” on Thursday afternoon, there will be a reception from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. within the gallery.

The gallery is free and will be open to both students and the public until March 17.