Loyola Visual and Performing Arts

Loyola Visual and Performing Arts Facebook for the Visual and Performing Arts Department at Loyola University Maryland

Happy Pride Month from the Visual and Performing Arts Department! During the month of June, we will be sharing artwork f...
06/01/2026

Happy Pride Month from the Visual and Performing Arts Department! During the month of June, we will be sharing artwork from students, alumni, and faculty that engage with aspects of the LGBTQIA+ experience, along with local and national LGBTQIA+ resources. Keep an eye out for posts with the rainbow frame! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🤍🩷🩵🤎🖤

Want to have your art featured in our Pride Month series? Scan the QR code on the second slide or go to the link in our bio to fill out the submission form. All types of art are accepted — including 2D, 3D, video, and performance art — and all Loyola community members are invited to submit art! The submission deadline is June 8.

Scroll to the final slide for a list of local and national LGBTQIA+ resources! You can also reach out to the Counseling Center () and the Thrive Center for Student Success () for support! 🏳️‍🌈

Images (clockwise from top left): Katherine Albert, ’26; Paige Devanney, ’26; Cole Djondo, ’26; Emily Acosta, ’26; Riley Loz, ’24, and Greyson Pearce, ’23; Samantha Chrysler; Professor Beth Yashnyk; Ari Acevedo, ’26; Trevor SanGiorgio, ’26; and Diana Martinez, ’27


This spring, Maddie Chelak, ’23, helped to create scenic components for the 2026 Met Gala! As a Scenic Artist with Kadan...
05/28/2026

This spring, Maddie Chelak, ’23, helped to create scenic components for the 2026 Met Gala! As a Scenic Artist with Kadan Productions, Maddie creates faux finishes using her skillset as a painter, including backdrops and set pieces for theatre, film, and fashion shows. For this year’s Met Gala, Maddie and the rest of her team created aged stone planters by painting and assembling slabs of medium-density fiberboard. The planters were installed in the museum entryway underneath a massive full moon and in the dining area. The finished products were also featured in Vogue articles detailing the Met Gala’s Northern Italian garden themed décor and dinner menu.

While at Loyola, Maddie double-majored in studio arts and Communication and minored in theatre. Maddie also worked on props and set painting for Theatre Program shows, including the Spotlight Players’ production of “Smokefall” in January 2023. Maddie says that her current job feels like a perfect blend between the three subjects she studied at Loyola.

Videography: Maddie Chelak, ’23
Photography:
Slides 2 and 4: Poupay Jutharat
Slides 3 and 6: Maddie Chelak, ’23


This spring, Maddie Chelak, ’23, helped to create scenic components for the 2026 Met Gala! As a Scenic Artist with Kadan...
05/28/2026

This spring, Maddie Chelak, ’23, helped to create scenic components for the 2026 Met Gala! As a Scenic Artist with Kadan Productions, Maddie creates faux finishes using her skillset as a painter, including backdrops and set pieces for theatre, film, and fashion shows. For this year’s Met Gala, Maddie and the rest of her team created aged stone planters by painting and assembling slabs of medium-density fiberboard. The planters were installed in the museum entryway underneath a massive full moon and in the dining area. The finished products were also featured in Vogue articles detailing the Met Gala’s Northern Italian garden themed décor and dinner menu.

While at Loyola, Maddie double-majored in studio arts and Communication and minored in theatre. Maddie also worked on props and set painting for Theatre Program shows, including the Spotlight Players’ production of “Smokefall” in January 2023. Maddie says that her current job feels like a perfect blend of the three subjects she studied at Loyola.

Videography: Maddie Chelak, ’23
Photography:
Slides 2 and 4: Poupay Jutharat
Slides 3 and 5: Maddie Chelak, ’23


Congratulations to alumna and studio arts minor, Jazzy Nkala, ’23, for having her piece, “Chrysalis”, featured in “Creat...
05/27/2026

Congratulations to alumna and studio arts minor, Jazzy Nkala, ’23, for having her piece, “Chrysalis”, featured in “Creative Processing: Art in Therapy”, an exhibition at The Mütter Museum at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia! Jazzy’s oil painting started off as a different project, but after about a year she decided to rework the piece by adding in a background and other essential elements that she felt represented growth, change, and evolution. Through maintaining parts of her original imagery, Jazzy began to strongly identify with the painting, and she is grateful for the opportunity to have her work displayed in such a prominent way.

“Creative Processing” is a special exhibition centered on the therapeutic use of creative arts within and beyond the clinical setting. The exhibition presents pieces created by community partners to connect with both their emotional and physical selves, from both formal art therapy practice and creative practice outside the clinical discipline. The pieces in the exhibition show that there are many ways to engage in creative practices to process emotion. “Creative Processing” is on view at The Mütter Museum now through February 2027.

Art: Nkala, Jazzy. “Chrysalis”. Oil paint on canvas. 2026.


Join us in congratulating art history major Colette Paoli, ’27, for receiving the inaugural award of the Lily and Christ...
05/21/2026

Join us in congratulating art history major Colette Paoli, ’27, for receiving the inaugural award of the Lily and Christine Sehn Fine Arts Internship Fund! This summer, Colette will be interning at the Museum für Geschichte (Museum for History) in Graz, Austria. The Museum für Geschichte is a part of the Universalmuseum Joanneum, which is Austria’s oldest museum, as well as the largest universal museum in central Europe. The museum has around 40,000 pieces in its care, with a mission centered on preserving cultural heritage, advancing research, and making history and art accessible to the public through exhibitions and education. During the internship, Colette will gain hands-on experience in the day-to-day work of a museum, especially in areas like research, collections management, and exhibition preparation.

The Lily and Christine Sehn Fine Arts Internship Fund was established to provide opportunities for students majoring in the visual arts to take on internships in the summer months to ease their financial burden and focus on the furthering of their career in the arts. The fund recognizes the important role that internships play in a student’s education and furthering of career goals, while noting that many of these internships are unpaid and therefore may be out of reach for many students.


Congratulations to Steph Hil, ’25, for having four of their pieces accepted into the Halle Cultural Art Center’s Pride A...
05/20/2026

Congratulations to Steph Hil, ’25, for having four of their pieces accepted into the Halle Cultural Art Center’s Pride Art Exhibition in Apex, NC! The exhibition honors individuality, community, and pride, while fostering a space for artistic expression and celebrating the ongoing fight for equality, acceptance, and celebration of q***r identities. Steph’s featured art pieces included two digital photos, “Out in the Streets” and “Up to the Heavens”, and two analog collages, “Everything, All at Once” and “La buena vida”.

Steph is an interdisciplinary artist from Apex, NC. While at Loyola, Steph double-majored in photography and writing. Their most recent collage and photo work explores their spiritual connection with nature.

Art: Steph Hils, ’25


This spring, InterArts major Ben Napolitano, ’26, curated “Testaments: Artistic Innovations of the Evergreen”, an art di...
05/19/2026

This spring, InterArts major Ben Napolitano, ’26, curated “Testaments: Artistic Innovations of the Evergreen”, an art display outside the Julio Fine Arts Gallery. The display incorporated art from several working student artists, with the intention of highlighting the innovations, experimentations, and risks taken by our undergraduate artist community. Throughout the 2025-2026 academic year, students pushed themselves to attempt new media, new processes, and new perspectives, all in the pursuit of furthering their creative processes. While “Testaments” presented just a small cross-section of the work done on campus, it represented the innovative and productive culture that Loyola’s students, faculty, and staff have cultivated.

Art: Amiyah Cobb, ’26; Delaney Meller, ’26; Jonathan Kane, ’27; Greta Brooks, ’26; Emily Scorcia, ’26; Kiana Frawley, ’26; Trevor SanGiorgio, ’26; Isabelle Leon, ’26; and Leah Mazzuchelli, ’26


The Visual and Performing Arts Department Spring 2026 newsletter is live! Click the link in our bio to be taken to the n...
05/15/2026

The Visual and Performing Arts Department Spring 2026 newsletter is live! Click the link in our bio to be taken to the newsletter and learn more about what the 2025-2026 school year had in store for our talented students, alumni, faculty, and staff! 🎨🎭🎶📸📚

Images: Emily Acosta, ’26, Dr. Natka Bianchini, Aidan Medina, ’26, Dr. Wan-Chi Su, Professor Mary Beth Akre, Professor Beth Yashnyk, Julio Fine Arts Gallery staff, Katherine Albert, ’26, Loyola Campus Ministry, Katherine Albert, ’26, Pat Cassidy, Dr. Kerry Boeye, Bria Edwards, Dr. Clay Price, Alara Arkan, ’29, and Trevor Sangiorgio, ’26


This spring, Dr. Natka Bianchini’s Directing II students learned about the many facets of directing, which culminated in...
05/13/2026

This spring, Dr. Natka Bianchini’s Directing II students learned about the many facets of directing, which culminated in a One-Act Festival where each student directed a one-act play. Belle Hartmann, ’26, directed “Live to Tell” by Eric Coble, which tells the story of three teen girls, Alison, Makayla, and Isabella, who share their firsthand experiences with human trafficking. As part of her directing process, Belle consulted with Shamere McKenzie, the CEO of Sun Gate Foundation, an anti-trafficking organization. Shamere is also a consultant with the United Nations and multiple US government agencies, the Anti-Human Trafficking Ambassador for Jamaica, an advocate against human trafficking, and more. Shamere leveraged her lived experience and expertise to help guide Belle in portraying the three girls’ stories. In addition to providing consulting services, Shamere attended two showings of “Live to Tell” and gave a brief talk-back after the second show!

Photography:
Slides 1-3: Deandre Smith, ’26
Slide 4: Joseph Musumeci


Last month, Artist-in-Residence Jaz Erenberg and her team arrived on campus to begin the installation process for two mu...
05/12/2026

Last month, Artist-in-Residence Jaz Erenberg and her team arrived on campus to begin the installation process for two murals – Liminal Skies at Campion Tower and Liminal Growth on the Hopkins Court retaining wall! The team worked most weekdays from April 7 through April 23, finishing both the painting at Campion, as well as the installation of the community-painted leaves at Hopkins Court. Studio arts major Trevor SanGiorgio, ’26, also gave the team a helping hand!

This year’s Artist-in-Residence looked a little different than in previous years. Responding to a desire to create and enliven public spaces on campus, the Julio Fine Arts Gallery invited Baltimore muralist Jaz Erenberg to be the Artist-in-Residence for 2025-2026. Having identified several spots on campus in need of vibrancy, Jazz brought her signature community-engaged approach to Loyola, from which two unique murals were created. The process included visits to campus, a public survey, an artist talk, and community workshops, which produced the leaves that later became part of the Hopkins Court mural. These incredible new additions to Loyola’s campus would not be possible without grants from the Center for the Humanities, Loyola University Maryland, and the Maryland State Arts Council, and financial contributions from the Lily and Christine Sehn Fine Arts Programmatic Support Fund, the Counseling Center, and Residence Life.

Photography: Julio Fine Arts Gallery staff


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