UVM students are running the show—and showing their art—at a new gallery and lounge on the second floor of Williams Hall. They’re also talking about art, attending receptions, and just hanging out with each other in this space, created by students for students. 

Among those student creators are senior Mary Tortorelli and sophomore Clare Barnett, both art history majors, who are the first co-chairs for the gallery. “Art and Art History students haven’t had a space like this to connect outside of the classroom before,” Barnett says. “Our purpose is to offer a comfortable and relaxing space that fosters community around undergraduate art. We view it as an exciting tool for community building.” 

“As far as I know, it’s the first student art gallery at UVM,” says Pamela Fraser, Program Head of Art and Art History and faculty advisor for the new gallery. She says that planning for the space began in fall 2025 when she met with School of the Arts student reps. The first item of business was deciding how to manage the space, and the group came up with the idea of inviting students to form an oversight committee. 

Fraser received seven responses from invitees and accepted all of them. “The students then elected co-chairs, and I advised them on creating guidelines and tasks to prepare for the gallery and first show,” she says. The committee set up a call-for-interest QR code and promotional materials and had their first opening reception in January, which was also the grand opening of the space. “It was a big success, well attended and received,” Fraser says. 

Tortorelli says that the co-chairs help organize and plan for meetings and put together a task log. “We also help facilitate discussions and make sure everyone knows what they’re doing and that they’re staying on top of their own tasks. We have an artist team, an outreach team, and an installation team.” The artist team reaches out to student artists and makes sure their artwork gets to the gallery in time, the outreach team manages social media and poster creation, and the installation team helps write labels and install the art.

Fraser says that the committee will have six to seven members each year. Current members are welcome to stay on, and new members to fill any vacancies will be sought in late spring for the following academic year. These students gain hands-on experience in organizing exhibitions, learning about everything that goes into it—from choosing artists in a fair way and curating their works to installation to public relations. “They also promote and create community,” Fraser adds.

Housed in room 202 in Williams Hall on Central Campus, the gallery is open whenever the building is open. “We get more foot traffic from art majors, but anyone can come in and hang out,” Tortorelli says. What’s more, any UVM student, regardless of major, can submit their work to be installed in the gallery. Case in point: An upcoming show features the work of a pre-med student. “A lot of people on the UVM campus are creative, even if they aren’t devoting themselves to a creative major,” Barnett says. “There’s all of this awesome, amazing student art that we wouldn’t get to see otherwise, and I’m really enjoying that aspect of it.”

This openness invites a wide variety of submissions, too. “Our last show featured woodcut prints, acrylic paintings, and linoleum cut prints,” Tortorelli says. “We’re open to all sorts of different media as long as it fits in the space.” “We’re also going to try and accommodate sculpture, video art, and performance art,” Barnett adds, “as long as it’s not too big.”

Students can apply to have their art on exhibit in the gallery by filling out a form online. “It’s pretty casual,” Barnett says. “There are QR codes on posters around campus. So, a student can scan that or they email Molly Schuchard or Ada Kennedy on our artist team.” Ideally, shows will be switched out every two weeks.

Tortorelli says that the new gallery offers a great opportunity for students interested in museum work to get involved with installations and curation, adding that it’s also nice for students to be able to exhibit as studio artists. “This is a great space to casually exhibit your work, even if you don’t have a ton of it,” she says.

Barnett adds, “This is a very low-pressure situation to get people involved in the Art and Art History community on campus.” And it seems to be working already. Barnett says that people who attend the gallery receptions are “talking about what they like about art. They’re talking about their classes. They’re talking about anything, really. It’s great to see the community coming together.”

Tortorelli says that they’re hoping to also have the space open for club meetings, study sessions, and more. “We’re really looking forward to building an accessible third space for students to hang out in. I think it’s already becoming that, and I’m excited to see how it develops,” she says.

“We’re pumped,” Barnett says, adding that she’s grateful for the group of students that came together to form the committee. “They’re all interesting and enthusiastic people who care about the community and the space, and I’m so grateful to be part of it.”