UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Visitors to Café Laura now enjoy a rotating exhibition of 2D works by students in the College of Arts and Architecture’s School of Visual Arts (SoVA), thanks to a collaboration between the school and Penn State’s School of Hospitality Management in the College of Health and Human Development.
The current exhibition includes works by 13 undergraduate and graduate students in the student-run café’s private room and main dining area. The exhibition will rotate each semester and feature 10-15 works.
According to Donna Quadri-Felitti, Marvin Ashner Endowed Director of the School of Hospitality Management, experiential learning is at the heart of the collaboration.
“Experiential learning in the School of Hospitality Management has been a central element of our successful curriculum since its founding in 1937,” she said. “Reaching out to SoVA to expand the expression and experience for other students whose Penn State education mirrors the rewarding tradition in SHM seemed a way to amplify the long history of experiential learning for both schools.”
The featured works were selected through an open call coordinated by SoVA faculty member Cecil Fish. Quadri-Felitti and other representatives from the School of Hospitality Management selected the works with input from Fish and Eduardo Navas, interim director of SoVA.
Navas echoed Quadri-Felitti’s praise of the experiential learning opportunity.
“We encourage our students to consider how their works can have real impact, and exhibiting their art pieces at Café Laura is a form of experiential learning that brings together students from both schools as an interdisciplinary community,” Navas said.
Fish noted the selected works feature bright colors and support the themes of food and community.
“I hope people seeing the artwork have their experience dining or studying at the café enlivened by the color and energy of the work on display,” he said. “I also hope they come away impressed by the talent and skill of the student artists learning and working at Penn State!”
Quadri-Felitti agreed, noting the experience has been beneficial for both SoVA and SHM students.
“We have many returning guests to the student-run Café Laura, and having this art has been very well received and allows patrons to learn about not only SoVA, but the connection between visual arts and the art of hospitality.”