UD AAP Students and Faculty Create "Lockdown": A Virtual Creative Showcase

Chicago Tribune writer Julia Keller once said, “The worst of times can make for the best of arts.” We have seen that aphorism borne out in the extraordinary creative and academic works from our AAP students this semester, particularly in the UD AAP’s statewide project Lockdown: UD AAP Creative Showcase. 

Traditionally, at the end of every spring semester, our campuses in Dover, Georgetown and Wilmington hold showcase events that allow AAP students to share their artistic talents and academic projects with their professors, peers and communities. Students are often joined by faculty in sharing their works. 

However, since current circumstances have prevented us from gathering in person, AAP Wilmington professors Rayna DeReus and David Teague worked together to curate the statewide virtual showcase event, providing students and faculty with a collaborative platform to share their work online. The Lockdown project offers a glimpse into our students' and faculty's creative and academic lives during this most extraordinary spring semester of the AAP's — and indeed the University’s — history.

In describing this year's event, David Teague said, "This creative showcase highlights works from a variety of classes and events. Brought together by a worldwide pandemic, many of our students chose to use class projects as a means of personal expression and an opportunity to document their experiences." 

Faculty, staff and students gathered via Zoom for a Creative Showcase launch party on Thursday, May 21. Led by showcase curator Rayna DeReus, the launch party offered a tour through the site and allowed attendees to experience and discuss the works together.

The showcase site is divided into 15 separate galleries that are organized by theme or academic subject, including “Quarantine,” “Perspective,” “Sheltered at Home,” and “Endless Possibilities.” 

Students in Robin Kucharczyk’s Snack Science class, a chemistry course covering topics from biology, chemistry, and physics and their applications in food and cooking, customarily create posters for their end-of-semester presentations. 

However, the spring 2020 online-course transition gave these students the chance to hone their graphic-design skills and instead create digital graphics to illustrate their research and ideas. Students’ topics included detailed presentations about food allergies, the effects of caffeine, vegan diets, and food safety. 

David Teague and the students participating in Wilmington's Just Write! initiative, a creative writing program for underserved children in Wilmington, created the “Ekphrastic” project for the showcase. Inspired by the theme of ekphrastia — writing a poem about a work of art — AAP students worked with middle- and high-school students from First State Squash to build an anthology of collaborative visual art and creative writing projects. 

These projects and many more will remain on display at the Lockdown website. We encourage everyone in the University community to check out the imaginative artistic and academic works our students have created this semester!