By Grace Palazzolo, Aquinas Reporter
The gallery in the Art and Music Center – Photo by Anastasia Benstead
On Wednesday Feb. 18, in the gallery space of the Aquinas College Art and Music Center, the 2026 Student Art show opened to the college community.
“I know it’s been going strong since I arrived at Aquinas 33 years ago,” said Dana Freeman, the chair of Aquinas College’s arts program, when asked about the history of the event.
“This year’s show is eclectic,” said Freeman, referring to the wide range of pieces, techniques and media on display. The show is not exclusive to students majoring in the arts; the artists range from students fulfilling their general education requirements to those who have dedicated their college careers to the subject.
Some students were able to use a variety of techniques within their work, “It would be really cool to take some of what I’m learning in the painting class and apply it to drawing,” said Claire Hines, a senior with a minor in studio art, who took oil painting and basic drawing in the fall of 2025. Due to her senior status she was unable to take advanced drawing so she incorporated oil painting into the basic drawing class.
“It was difficult because I felt like everything needed to be perfect,” Hines said, when asked what she found difficult about the process. She found solace in the words of the instructor of the class, Chris Laporte, who encouraged her to lay it all out there, get it on the paper and work on refining it later. “It’s a process, you have to lean into it and trust that it’s all going to be fine,” Hines said.
Attendees of the Student Art show admiring the work – Photo by Anastasia Benstead
Megan Sztoko, a junior, had five pieces on display: two 18×24 pencil drawings and three ceramic pieces. Her favorite medium is clay and she spent her free time working on the three planter style pieces displayed in this year’s show. She does not enjoy drawing very much, pencil is not her medium of choice, but she is happy with the results of her hard work.
“I don’t think people think about drawings as deeply as the artist does, but it was something that pushed me past what I was comfortable with and what I thought were my limits,” Sztoko said in reference to her two pencil drawings of the Our Lady Seat of Wisdom chapel on Aquinas College’s campus.
Ethan Tennet posing next to the portrait of himself (painted by his girlfriend Kiera Troost) – Photo by Anastasia Benstead
Kiera Troost, another student with pieces on display, chose to submit a painting of her boyfriend. The painting depicts him dressed, in a white shirt and red tie, engrossed in a book.
Sara Evon is a senior and an art major, she has decided to submit six pieces with the lyrics of the “Just Keep swimming” song from the Disney film Finding Nemo.
“Chugging along through finals, that’s kind of the theme of it,” Evon said. These pieces were made toward the end of the fall 2025 semester, and serve as a representation of the semester as a whole, but particularly finals week.
When asked what this show meant to her Evon said, “This is an opportunity for me to further my career as an artist but also to spread a little joy. It makes me happy to see people respond well to fun things.” After graduation Evon plans to continue her art career and become a painting and print making artist.
Attendees appreciating “What I Did with the Fear – A Spell for Staying” – Photo by Yashowanto (Jasho) Ghosh
Gina Borton, another artist featured in the show, has chosen to display a piece titled “What I Did with the Fear – A Spell for Staying.” Borton brought to life every part of this piece; even down to the very can canvas it was painted on.
The next department show will be the Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibit on April 11. The purpose of the event is to highlight the art students as they work to grow not only as individuals, but also as artists.
The Saint 