Charlotte Shields-Rossi | staff writer

Poets, painters, photographers, sculptors and other creatives all gathered in the Africa Room on Tuesday to showcase their talents at Lexicon’s annual Art Show.

The atmosphere was relaxed. Soft piano music played in the background, the tables were lit with candles and artists patiently waited for attendees to approach them and view their art.

One of those artists was Linda Kinnahan.

Kinnahan, a retired English professor, is a painter. Her love of art stems from her childhood. Before working at Duquesne, she was a high school art teacher.

Kinnahan challenges herself to paint every day in May and December, using watercolor to paint the world around her and its moods.

“My art is about observing the world,” Kinnahan said. “It helps with that. It helps me pay attention to the world.”

Kinnahan was happy to share her colorful paintings of flowers, houses and paintbrushes.

“Sharing your art is a wonderful way to be a part of a community,” Kinnahan said. “We’re all creative. It means a lot to me to be a part of a community that wants art to be a vital part of academics.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many beloved campus events were forced to shut down. The art show, which allows creative and talented students, faculty and alumni to showcase their work to the Duquesne Community, was one of them.

The student-led literary journal — which publishes art issues containing fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry and photography twice per academic year — reinstated the event with the help of their faculty advisor, John Fried.

After six years off, Fried was the one to pitch the idea of reviving the show, recognizing its importance.

“Just knowing that there are other people making work always makes you feel like you’re a part of a community and that you have other like-minded people around you,” he said. “[It] makes you want to make more work. It’s very nurturing.”

Senior Ellie Troiani showed artwork inspired by the 1990s feminist underground punk movement “Riot Grrrl.”

During that time, the subculture would create “zines,” or self-published handmade magazines, as a way of disseminating information to each other.

Troiani created her art by folding printer paper in different sizes and styles, using cutouts from magazines and Pinterest and then embellishing the pages using various writing utensils.

The history major showcased three zines. One was made for a history class and the other two were personal.

“I think the fun part about my personal ones is just kind of letting it go for a couple months, see how I’m feeling, and then I come back to it naturally when I feel like it,” Troiani said.

One of the personal zines, which featured prose and crayon, was created this winter. Troiani used it as a way to cope with her emotions post-election.

“I think the mode of a zine specifically helps a lot with self-expression. It’s kind of like junk journaling, getting your thoughts out onto a piece of paper, but also preserving little things that are important to you,” Troiani said.

Nearby, junior George Shorthouse was flipping through Troiani’s collection.

Also a history major, Shorthouse was there to support his friends, who were artists at the event. To build hype for the showcase, he even got friends from his psychology class to attend.

“I definitely love seeing a broad spectrum of interesting artistic ideas that culminate into one cool event,” he said. “I think this event would help a lot of people who didn’t really consider doing this sort of thing before to push themselves into it.”

Despite the hiatus, the Lexicon Art Show saw 10 artists and 50 participants. Fried was excited to bring everyone back together.

“It’s an opportunity to celebrate all the artistic culture at Duquesne,” Fried said, “to see each other’s work and see all the great art that’s being produced here.”

Charlotte Shields-Rossi can be reached at shieldsrossic@duq.edu.