The Pointer UW-Stevens Point Student Newspaper
Centertainment Productions searched far and wide to find a plethora of artists to contribute to this semesters’ Collage Showcase.
“Every semester since I’ve started working for Centertainment I’ve done a Collage Showcase,” said Lee St. Martin, Centertainment centercase for art coordinator. “It’s an opportunity for more than one person to be shown, for more people to have their art displayed at once and it also gives me the chance to meet artists that I can later offer solo showcases.”
The showcase is located right outside the Laird Room in the Dreyfus University Center. This year it will be hosting a variety of artwork of all mediums from Feb. 6 to Feb. 27.
St. Martin said that all artists are welcome to display their work in the collage showcases regardless of whether the student is an art major or not. As long as the piece is not offensive or discriminatory, it will most likely have a place in the collage.
“When I was hired it was one of my personal goals to include as many people as possible,” said St. Martin. “I wanted volume because I think it’s a great chance for students to boost their resume and to work one-on-one with a gallery person.”
Timothy Zeszutek, senior 2D graphic design major, is once again being featured in this year’s collage showcase and explains why he recommends other artists do the same.
“Anything you can do to get your work out there helps, even little things like this. I’ve had many opportunities grow off of this so I would definitely suggest it to other students- plus it’s free,” said Zeszutek.
Zeszutek explained that in order to be featured in most art exhibits there is often a fee, which for many students can be hard to pull off.
St. Martin was particularly impressed with Zeszutek’s work in the collage showcase, so much in fact that he reached out later on to offer Zeszutek an even larger opportunity.
“I’m different from other programmers. Most will have their semester planned out ahead of time, while I have empty dates – I’m just a lot more fluid in how I do things,” St. Martin said. “Sometimes it will be two or three weeks before I’m supposed to do a show, and I have nothing, so I’ll just grab my list full of previous artists to reach out to and say, ‘Hey I really liked your work and I’d like to offer you your own showcase.’”
Brooke Newman, senior 2D focus major, said that the Centertainment showcase was her first experience exhibiting her work and describes how this one opportunity has impacted her career as an artist.
“I was grateful for the opportunity. Because of this first ‘exhibit,’ I was given many more opportunities to show my work in other venues. Two people that saw my work exhibited there called me and asked me to show my work with them as well. That is a very lucky break!” said Newman.
Newman described the showcaseas a great opportunity to get noticed by the entire Stevens Point community.
“I took my entire painting class on a field-trip to see my show. That gave my peers a chance to think about how they would show their work,” said Newman. “I know that many UWSP students saw my work– many students that would not normally see it.”
Not only did Newman get her name out there, but she was also able to sell numerous pieces.
“I had all sorts of students and local people interested in my paintings. I learned, in that period, that doing artwork can be lucrative and it gave me faith in my talent,” Newman said. “Often artists don’t believe that their work is important to others. This opportunity opened my eyes to my value.”
Sophie Stickelmaier
sstic520@uwsp.edu
News Editor
