Mt. Laurel resident and University of the Arts junior Allyson Gallagher always knew she wanted to be an artist.
Both of Gallagher’s parents went to art school and encouraged their daughter to do the same.
“Art has always been really important in my life,” she said. “Ever since I remember, I knew I wanted to have a career in it.”
Not only is Gallagher getting closer to her dream career, she’s also earning some recognition at college.
For the second consecutive year, Gallagher was featured in an exhibition called “Art Unleashed” at University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
“Art Unleashed” is an exhibit where select students are chosen to showcase their work alongside successful professional artists. The exhibit allows the students to gain experience with promoting and selling their art to the public. The free exhibit opens to the public on April 10 and runs through April 14.
For this year’s event, Gallagher created a sculpture she describes as unlike anything she had ever done before.
“This piece is actually for a class project,” she said. “We had to pick two different things that were earth- and man-made and bring them together.”
Gallagher took a piece of driftwood and covered portions of it with plastic table scatter she purchased. The blue table scatter helped add color to the piece, creating a unique work of art.
Sculpture is something Gallagher picked up during her freshman year at University of the Arts. She declared as a sculpture major after taking a class her first year.
“I have a natural talent to make 3D forms, and one my professors said you should consider going into sculpture,” she said. “So after my freshman year, I declared myself as a sculpture major.”
Gallagher had been a student at University of the Arts before she officially enrolled there. While attending Lenape High School, she and her fellow classmates visited the school.
“While I was there, I also came to the University of the Arts and took painting and printmaking classes,” Gallagher said. “A bunch of Lenape students and I went.”
Gallagher took a number of art classes at Lenape as well, including an advanced placement class in studio art.
Outside of sculpture, her favorite form of art is printmaking. Gallagher enjoys it because it of the multi-faceted approach required.
“It’s more than just drawing and more than just painting,” she said. “You get multiples of what you make. I think printmaking is the best that I have besides sculpture.”
Gallagher is determined to work with art after graduation. She hopes to get a job in art education and spread her love of art to other talented children.
“It’s very hard to communicate to people why you’re an artist,” she said. “I want to teach students and their parents that art isn’t just something beautiful. It’s something we need in our society. I want to educate people about art. I want to be that person that keeps art going.”
The public can view Gallagher’s piece for April 10 through 14 from noon to 5 p.m. at Hamilton Hall on the University of the Arts campus.
The public exhibition and sale is kicked off by a preview party on April 9 from 6 to 8 p.m., where guests have exclusive access to view and purchase pieces in advance of the public exhibition.
Preview Party-only tickets range from $100 to 200 per person. All tickets can be purchased at uarts.edu/artunleashed or by calling (215) 717–6147.
Gallagher’s piece, “Water,” can be viewed on her artist’s page at the University of the Arts website, www.artunleashed.uarts.edu/Artist-Page-2015/Gallagher/Allyson. To view the complete gallery of work on display, visit www.artunleashed.uarts.edu/gallery-2015.
