CFA Students Selected to Display Work for New Audiences at Marketing Conference.
Spark Volume 3, Issue 3 | by Daniella Weiss
SVA Painting MFA students and alumni. Photo by Andriy Portyanko.
Each year, inbound marketing company HubSpot presents the INBOUND marketing conference right in the heart of Boston. This four-day event draws in marketing specialists, young business professionals, and speakers from around the world to participate in various keynote and breakout sessions. Speakers this past year spanned a wide range including notable figures such as Andy Cohen, John Cena, and Michelle Obama, just to name a few. The event garnered the participation of more than 21,000 attendees, had representation from 104 countries, and hosted 273 speakers total. The event is meant to inspire, educate, and propel growth among those working in marketing and various businesses today.
Student artwork showcased in the VIP lounge. Photo by Andriy Portyanko.
This past September, the INBOUND conference took to the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center once again. Amongst the many invitees were a select group of CFA students asked to exhibit their artwork throughout the event. The group of participants included current graduate fine arts students as well as alumni. Ika Chang (CFA’18), a second year graduate student working towards an MFA in Painting, was chosen to display work along with the group in the VIP area of the convention center. “The VIP room doubled as a lounge space and gallery space,” said Chang.
“This is the first time since starting grad school that my work was shown. It was a special milestone for me,” remarked Chang. Although the VIP section included a small select group, these students were ecstatic to display their work publicly for new viewers to see. “All I can speculate is that now a handful of important people in the business world have seen my work and name. A fun fact is that Michelle Obama spoke at this event. Who knows? Maybe she saw our work!”
Once the conference opened, these CFA students were also extended a chance to tour the convention center and observe the last decisions made prior to the event beginning. “We also got to see how the space was being used, as it was a VIP resting area for people who were attending the event,” recalls Matthew Sadler (CFA’18), graduate student in the MFA Painting program. He reflects on the enjoyment of meeting the team that oversaw the entire design of the event from start to finish. Listening to the organizers “explaining their vision for the space, and being there on hand to help install our work, was an extremely rewarding experience,” says Sadler.
Photo by Andriy Portyanko.
Besides solely displaying their artwork at the event, these CFA artists were expected to play a role in the installation and deinstallation of their exhibits before and after the event. “Given it was a business setting, it was a very unusual opportunity to show artwork, compared to a traditional gallery space,” said Chang.
Chang recounted the setting of the event as “a glamorous corporate event for millennials—think blue and pink lights, a beanbag chair mountain, and marquees displaying tweets in real time.” The conference was designed to be sophisticated and attract a wide range of business professionals, especially millennials. “I was overwhelmed when I first entered the conference hall,” said Chang.
For these students, this opportunity was an excellent chance to display their work in an out of the ordinary setting. “I enjoyed seeing our work in a different context other than a gallery space and in a much more public place, both in size and foot traffic,” said Sadler. “Our artwork being seen by thousands of people was an incredibly amazing opportunity!”
A unique gallery experience for SVA artists. Photo by Andriy Portyanko.
INBOUND granted the students a chance to step outside of the BU and CFA bubble, especially as they work toward graduating in May. “I enjoyed having this chance to peek inside a very different world that I wouldn’t see normally in my career-sphere,” said Chang. “It was also memorable to experience this place with my peers and professor. As the environment was so vibrant and festive, it was a good way to celebrate our work being shown.”
The opportunity as a whole was a terrific way for these School of Visual Arts students as well as CFA to gain exposure to a wide audience beyond BU. As the entire conference was being planned, it was a request for student artwork from a local university in Boston to be displayed. These students detailed that BU was listed next to their artwork, which sparked interest and conversation from observers. Looking toward the future, as INBOUND is an annual event, CFA hopes to partner with the conference and and display student work once again.
As Josephine Halvorson, Chair of Graduate Studies in Painting, reflects, this unique exhibition “was an important professional experience for our graduate students, both current and alumni. They learned about the particularities of a space, working with union labor , transporting their work to and from the venue, and the conditions of the artworks’ viewing. We are so proud of them and their hard work.”
As the INBOUND 2017 event was primarily a business marketing conference, the placement of the CFA students’ work may seem obscure. However, Sadler reflects, that “art and design are also components in any successful business. What we are learning at CFA will be essential for our artistic endeavors in the future, both in a creative capacity and also in any future job prospects.” The entire experience of INBOUND 2017 is one these talented CFA students and budding young professionals will carry with them for a lifetime.
Congratulations to the MFA student and graduate artists selected to arrange and display work at the conference: Ika Chang, Catherine Della Lucia (CFA’17), Stephanie Doane (CFA’17), Marisa Gilbert (CFA’17), Kelsey Lahey (CFA’18), Matthew Sadler (CFA’18), and Ruowen Wu (CFA’17).
Learn more about the School of Visual Arts MFA in Painting and many other graduate programs offered at the College of Fine Arts.