Ellie Waltman, Managing Editor
VCUarts seniors in the Painting and Printmaking department graduating this fall were informed that they could not participate in the upcoming 2027 Spring Senior Exhibition held at the Anderson.
This follows the department’s failure to inform the students who are graduating in December that they had to participate in the Spring 2026 Senior Exhibition to have their work featured.
The Anderson, a student exhibition and programming space located on Franklin St., hosts each senior exhibition to allow students the opportunity to learn about connecting their work to public audiences.
Sophie Nave, a fourth-year Painting and Printmaking major, said the students in the department learned about this rule during their orientation for the presentation of their work.
The seniors were invited to the Anderson for an orientation walking them through the process of exhibiting.
“The way we found out was truly by happenstance,” Nave said. “We get about 10 minutes into this orientation presentation, and the director is telling us about this Canvas course that’s going to have all the information on it,” Nave said.
The graduating class would not have learned of this rule if the director of the Anderson had not responded to further questions about the Canvas course, according to Nave.
“I raised my hand and I ask, ‘If we were going to be graduating this December and the show’s in the springtime, our VCU email is not going to work anymore. Once we graduate, how are we going to have access to this Canvas course?’” Nave said. “Kind of offhandedly, the director says, ‘Well, if you’re not enrolled in spring class, then you won’t participate in the capstone exhibition.’”
Nave said that her peers, as well as faculty present, were shocked to learn of the requirement.
“We all kind of looked at each other and were like, ‘Did you just hear what I heard?’ I looked over to my professor and he looked just as shocked as everyone else,” Nave said. “We were extremely confused because this was a huge information drop and it should have been relayed to us sooner.”
Nave said that despite the news, the department, predominantly students, has come together to support those who will be affected.
“Morale is low, but camaraderie is high,” Nave said.
Grace Sharpe, a fourth-year Painting and Printmaking major, said that while she was not present for the orientation, the response was immediate.
“My classmate called me the very same day that happened and she was obviously very frustrated,” Sharpe said. “When I came back to class that following Tuesday and Thursday, we kind of discussed what we could do as a group.”
Sharpe said she was most frustrated and confused by not being able to participate in the senior capstone due to the preset rule in place despite the Anderson hosting artists who are not VCU students.
“I know it was some policy issue about us not being students anymore, but there’s other artists who come and they aren’t students and they’re not affiliates of VCU and they still show at the Anderson,” Sharpe said. “I was going to assume that same process would be applied to us, and I feel like even more grace would have been given because we are alum in the spring.”
Sheryl Oring, the chair of the Department of Fine Arts program, said she is using her role to create more opportunities for the graduating students to elevate the work they have created in their time at VCU.
“I believe really strongly that graduating students deserve meaningful opportunities to share and celebrate the work that they developed at VCU,” Oring said. “My job is to listen to their concerns and work with faculty and students to create the strongest opportunities that we can.”
Oring said that listening to the students’ concerns and correcting the issue was her main priority throughout the process.
“I just wanted to listen to their concerns and they were clearly sad that they had missed an opportunity to have an exhibition, so we’ve corrected that,” Oring said. “We’re really excited to be able to celebrate their work.”
The Painting and Printmaking Senior Exhibition will be featured in the Joseph H. Seipel Gallery located in the Murry N. DePillars Building on Nov. 13 in place of the Spring 2027 exhibition.