HWS News
30 October 2025 • Alums Studio Art Majors Explore New York City's Art World
Professor Christine Chin leads ARTS 480 students on a weekend of museums, galleries and alumni connections, supported by the Jonas Wood ’99 Fund.
Supported by The Jonas B. R. Wood ’99 Endowed Studio Art Travel Fund, Professor of Art and Architecture Christine Chin recently led students in “ARTS 480: Studio Art Senior Seminar” on a three-day experience to New York City, offering an immersive understanding of the contemporary art world through museum visits, gallery tours and conversations with HWS alumni working in the arts.
“The experience offered students the chance to connect classroom learning with the realities of the professional art world and to see firsthand the variety of creative paths our alumni are pursuing,” says Chin.
The class, including Kelsey Barrows ’25, Cori Chapman ’26, Christian Flowers ’26, Julianne Gautier ’25, Elizabeth Krege ’26, Jessie McCauley ’26, Abby Sherwood ’26, Jack Skeffington ’26 and Emily Smith ’26, began their trek at the Museum of the City of New York, where they viewed the Rauschenberg and Stomp exhibitions recommended by Margaret Connors McQuade ’93, vice president of collections at the Museum of the City of New York. They also attended the opening of “Anish Kapoor: Early Works” at The Jewish Museum and took advantage of the late Friday hours at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to visit “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” on its final weekend.
Saturday’s itinerary included a visit to the Whitney Museum of American Art and a tour of the New York Academy of Art, hosted by Nicola Russell ’19, who completed her MFA in painting there. The group then met with Director of the Charles Moffett Gallery Hannah Root ’15 before exploring Tribeca and Soho galleries.
That evening, students gathered for dinner with HWS alumni Aimee Wilder ’00, founder, CEO, creative director of Aimee Wilder; Olivia Davidson ’22, who recently completed an MFA in photography at Pratt Institute; Emma Swenson ’23, a Brooklyn-based artist; and July Winters ’24, currently pursuing an MA in design research, writing and criticism at the School of Visual Arts.
On Sunday, the group visited the studio of visionary artist Ellen Driscoll, whose multidisciplinary practice spans sculpture, drawing, and public art, with major installations such as Site Woven in Charlotte, N.C., CartOURgraphy in Queens, N.Y., and Night to Day, Here and Away in Sarasota. A Guggenheim Fellow and recipient of numerous national awards, Driscoll’s work is held in major collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
International Artist Jonas Wood, based in Los Angeles, is known for his bright, bold paintings that combine personal experiences with everyday observations. His work has appeared extensively in collections ranging from the Gagosian in London to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and the Dallas Museum of Art in Texas to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. He holds an MFA in painting and drawing from the University of Washington in Seattle. At HWS, he was a psychology major and a studio art minor and studied abroad in Bath, England.
