Maggie DiGrande ’21

Maggie DiGrande

My work represents a lack of presence on Lafayette’s campus this semester due to the pandemic. I created four folk-style oil paintings on paper and incorporated small beads and other materials, such as tulle and burlap, into the paintings. The four scenes represent the four main scenes that come to mind when I imagine students “hanging out” at Lafayette. I painted these scenes, but removed the places people sit, the chairs on the quad, the chairs outside Gilbert’s cafe, the chairs in the library, and the bleachers at the football field. I cut these out to show the emptiness that exists there now, but I contrasted this idea by adding shadows made of beads to these areas to show the presence or “fullness” that was once there. I also added beads in places where lots of foot traffic once existed. The beads add an element of physicality as well as a handmade quality. Femininity and folk art are the two main themes present in my work through the use of folk-style painting, small personal scale, materiality, and handmade delicate details.