Summer Art Exhibits on View at St. John鈥檚 College
r aster syrell: Approaching the Garden, May 2–July 13 at /m
Thinking in the Long Term: Publications by Glenstone, May 2–August 15 at the Greenfield Library
Exhibitions are free and open to the public
ANNAPOLIS, Md. [April 24, 2025] – /m (the Elizabeth Myers Mitchell Art Museum at St. John’s College) is pleased to announce two art exhibits on display this summer. r aster syrell: Approaching the Garden, in which /m will serve as the artist’s studio space, is open from May 2 through July 13. Thinking in the Long Term: Publications by Glenstone will be on view at the Greenfield Library from May 2 through August 15. The museum will also host educational events and tours.
r aster syrell: Approaching the Garden (May 2 to July 13) Artist r aster syrell will use the main gallery of /m as her studio for 73 days. The exhibition will provide visitors an intimate look into the painter’s process, through which she layers observations of slowly shifting constellations of objects onto her canvases to create, as she puts it, “intertwining temporalities.” Her method contrasts with that of traditional observational painting, which typically aims to make concrete the essence of a singular instance.
“In observational painting, how does one account for the fluidity of the world?” asks Peter Nesbett, /m’s director. “And by that, I mean, how does one account for not only the transitory nature of the object being depicted, say a cloud or a reflection, but also those of us making and experiencing the work. syrell’s paintings speak to that on many levels. So, it makes sense for us to experience them not in a final form, as we do in most exhibitions, but instead, in the process of development.”
One of the tools syrell will use are the building’s distinctive corner windows. They will function as huge Claude Glasses—the dark mirrored devices used by plein-air painters in the 18th and 19th centuries (and named after Claude Lorrain) to facilitate the transfer of a three-dimensional observation onto a two-dimension canvas. The flickering images that syrell will see at night in these huge mirror-like surfaces will populate her canvases.
r aster syrell is a painter and educator based in New York. Her work is centered around sensation, memory, and queer temporalities. She teaches at Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold, Maryland, and St. John’s University in New York, where she also serves as the Exhibition Designer for the Yeh Art Gallery.
Thinking in the Long Term: Publications by Glenstone (May 2 to August 15) Presenting a selection of beautifully designed artist monographs, this modest exhibition makes a case for how art books not only increase accessibility but also extend the lives of artworks, particularly those that are ephemeral. The featured artists are Roni Horn, Faith Ringgold, Fred Sandback, Rirkrit Tiravanija, and Jeff Wall. Glenstone is a private contemporary art museum in Potomac, Maryland, founded in 2006. This exhibit is on display in the Greenfield Library’s Lillian Vanous Nutt Room.
Summer Events at the Museum:
(Free and open to the public; no pre-registration required.)
Before She Embarks: A Conversation with Artist r aster syrell with Jenny Cawood, /m Manager of Artistic Inquiry
April 30, 2025, 6–7:30 p.m.
Main Gallery, /m, St. John’s College, Annapolis
Joining us in welcoming painter r aster syrell as she prepares for a 73-day-long painting marathon/residency. Learn about how she is mentally preparing; how she thinks about painting, time, and pictorial space; which philosophers she reads; and what she hopes to accomplish.
Publishing Art Books: A Conversation with Carly Davis, Librarian, Glenstone Museum
Wednesday, May 7, 5:30–6:30 p.m.
Greenfield Library, Nutt Room, St. John’s College, Annapolis
This talk is on the occasion of a special exhibition of artist monographs published by Glenstone, on view in the library’s Nutt Room. Glenstone is a private contemporary art museum in Potomac, Maryland, founded in 2006.
For more information on Mitchell Art Museum exhibits and programming, visit sjc.edu/mitchell or follow @sjcmitchell on and .
VISITING THE MITCHELL ART MUSEUM
The museum’s summer hours are Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Exhibitions are always free and wheelchair accessible. After May 13, free parking is available on campus in the Edensword and Mellon parking lots (off St. John’s Street). The museum is located at the heart of campus in Mellon Hall.
VISITING THE GREENFIELD LIBRARY
The library will be open from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday, May 4, and from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday, May 5, through Friday, May 9. Beginning May 12, the library will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. The Greenfield Library is located on the corner of St. John’s Street and College Avenue.
ABOUT THE MITCHELL ART MUSEUM (/m)
The only nationally accredited art museum in Anne Arundel County, the Elizabeth Myers Mitchell Art Museum at St. John’s College presents changing art exhibitions to the ever-curious. Our mission is to pose persistent and timely questions about the human experience through art and with extraordinary artists.
ABOUT ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE
St. John’s College is the most distinctive liberal arts college in the country due to our interdisciplinary program, in which 200 of the most revolutionary great books from across 3,000 years of human thought are explored in student-driven, discussion-based classes. By probing world-changing ideas in literature, philosophy, mathematics, science, music, history, and more, students leave St. John’s with a foundation for success in such fields as law, government, research, STEM, media, and education. Located on two campuses in two historic state capitals—Annapolis, Maryland, and Santa Fe, New Mexico—St. John’s is the third-oldest college in the United States and has been hailed as the “most forward-thinking, future-proof college in America” by Quartz and as a “high-achieving angel hovering over the landscape of American higher education” by the Los Angeles Times. Learn more at .
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