The Diplomat
August 28, 2008
Franklin & Marshall’s weekly online newsletter
Student Exhibition Contrasts Design and Fine Art
Where do you draw the line?
That’s a question student curator Cristy Batta ’09 is asking in an exhibition of graphic-design work and artworks from Franklin & Marshall College’s permanent collection. The exhibition is appropriately titled, “Where do you draw the line?”
The exhibition is running through Sept. 28 in the Sally Mathers Gibson Curriculum Gallery in The Phillips Museum.
Batta is a Franklin & Marshall College student in Professor of Art Linda Aleci’s Curatorial Practices Seminar, which meets weekly in The Phillips Museum.¬† Already a respected graphic designer in her own right, Batta created the postcards, posters and catalogs for the coming semester’s exhibitions at The Phillips Museum.
“Batta asks and endeavors to explain the separation of fine art from design by researching and describing the transitory line that has been used over time to mark the point of difference between them,” explained Claire Giblin, acting director of the Phillips Museum.
Using examples from the permanent collection of The Phillips Museum, Batta has assembled examples of art and photography by Andy Warhol, Robert Indiana and Elliot Erwitt; the graphic and illustrative work of Luigi Rist, Walcott Hitchcock, Jacob Landau, Milli Dunn Weiss and Wesselmann; a Cuban poster; a stamp poster and a handmade concert poster made from found paper.  Included are printed items she found around campus and in residence halls, and photos of altered art she has collected for the exhibition.
Batta will discuss the collection of work she has assembled on Sept. 11 at a 4:30 p.m. reception.
“This exhibition is for everyone,” Giblin said, “viewers interested to see the¬†artworks from our collection and those¬†who want to participate in the curator’s investigation of the line drawn, after all, by each of us. Everyone’s a critic!”
The exhibition is free and open to the public.  For more information on the Phillips Museum or for information about upcoming exhibitions, visit www.fandm.edu/phillipsmuseum.xml.
