An old denim jacket, decorated with trinkets and his former insulin pump, became a new outfit for Michael Kowalkowski’s drag persona, Magic Michael.
Kowalkowski, a senior fine arts major, had planned to make the outfit before he saw the call for submissions for “Made It Here!” But the exhibition gave him a deadline and the motivation to finish it.
“Made It Here!” brings together student work created using Columbia’s art facilities and equipment, from printmaking and photography to fashion and fabrication. The exhibition, organized by the Student Spaces for Art and Collaboration, features work by students across majors and disciplines and is on display at Hokin Gallery at 623 S. Wabash Ave. through Friday, Sept. 11.
The exhibition features 20 artists and approximately 50 works made across eight facilities. Mark Porter, senior exhibition coordinator for Student Spaces for Art and Collaboration, said the exhibition was created to highlight the work of students and faculty as well as the facilities where the work was made.
“SSAC’s goal for ‘Made it Here!’ was to celebrate the creativity amongst our students and faculty,” Porter said. “The exhibit is a celebration of our amazing facilities on campus, the staff who run them and the creative students who make fascinating works within them.”
Every student who submitted work was included in the exhibit, Porter stated.
The exhibition coincided with New Student Orientation and the start of the fall semester.
“We intended to open the exhibit during the summer,” while “closing during the first weeks of the fall semester as a way of welcoming new and prospective students during New Student Orientation sessions that occur during the summer and as a welcome-to-campus event at the launch of the fall semester,” Porter said.
Junior fine arts major Felix Castro has three pieces in the exhibition: a wooden derby car called “Derby Fish,” a painting titled “For a Better Life” and an intaglio print titled “If You Aren’t Enraged. You’re Not Informed.”
Castro said much of his work is political, and he wanted viewers to take time to think about the subjects behind his pieces.
“I hope that they kind of take a moment to reflect and kind of think about the situation that other people are in,” Castro said.
“For a Better Life” was inspired by immigration and Castro’s family. His parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico, and he wanted to show the beauty of immigration while looking at how it’s been portrayed in the media.
Castro’s intaglio print also took trial and error. He made a series of about 15 to 18 prints, but said only about six turned out well.
“I think only about six of those were pretty decent,” Castro said. “I guess those were very challenging to make, but also I’m a beginner, so I’m trying not to be too hard on myself.”
Illustration senior Colleen Duffy created placemats using materials she collected while traveling and shopping. Her materials include tickets, museum guides, stickers and receipts from places such as Paris, Rome and New Orleans.
Duffy said she enjoys the design of everyday objects and wanted to give materials that would normally be thrown away a new life.
“When I look at my work, I’m reminded of specific moments and the people I care about who I share these experiences with,” Duffy said.
When Duffy laminated the placemats at Columbia’s Makerspace, the heat affected some of the ink on the receipts. One of the placemats also came out wrinkled.
“The placemat ended up being a little wrinkled after laminating, which was unexpected, but I think it also became part of the final piece,” Duffy said, adding that this was her first gallery show.
“This is my first show, so it means a lot to me to see something I created in a gallery,” she said.
Senior fine arts major Hannah Curran has three pieces in the exhibit, including her silkscreen print “Museum.”
Curran said the print was inspired by the things she finds magical and meaningful in everyday life.
“I love finding magic and fantasy and everyday life, and I carry my whimsical inner world with me everywhere I go,” she said.
Curran said she created the piece during a period of “artistic burnout.” She decided to make a collection of things she appreciated.
While working on the piece, Curran accidentally created bumpy outlines on her self-portrait and border. Instead of starting over, she decided to keep them and ended up liking the texture.
“Once I realized, I decided to just keep it,” Curran said. “After I finished printing, I realized that I loved the added texture it gave the piece!”
Spring 2026 Graphic Design graduate Payton Erby submitted “The Extraordinary Ordinary,” a photography project she originally created for a photography class. Erby focused on macro photography and took more than 30 photographs before choosing 10 for her final project. The photographs focused on ordinary objects and how light changes their appearance.
“The piece is to show the importance of light,” Erby said. “How light can showcase small details, like a flower and a bush.”
By the third round of photographs, Erby said she was running out of things to photograph and began moving objects towards light coming through her apartment window.
“By the third round of photos I did for the project, I was at a loss of what to take photos of.” Erby said.
Copy edited by Mia Smith
