Cakes keep appearing in Nicole McCormick Santiago's paintings.
The delectable desserts are celebratory symbols for significant life milestones.
With McDaniel College's Class of 2016 in its first week on campus, fully engrossed in one of life's many transitions, Santiago will unveil her paintings examining pivotal life moments during a meet the artist reception from 7 to 9 tonight at Rice Gallery, inside Peterson Hall on McDaniel's Westminster campus.
"Indulgence: New Paintings by Nicole McCormick Santiago" is the first art opening of the fall at McDaniel. The reception is free and open to the public.
Santiago, an art history professor, is on sabbatical this semester from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. Her works have been shown in more than 70 exhibitions.
Santiago's paintings show a narrative for people and places stretched out beyond the moment is shown. Cakes are a constant.
"Cakes seemed to become a symbol of ritual and celebration and a marker of obtaining some sort of status through a marriage, birth or anniversary," she said.
Santiago is part of vibrant art community in Williamsburg, a town best known for being a tourism draw. Colonial Williamsburg is centered around historic buildings dating back to the 18th century, when the town was Virginia's capitol.
The William & Mary campus is located next to the historic district. Recently, Colonial Williamsburg blacksmiths have made the trip to Westminster to take part in Common Ground on the Hill, a series of classes on roots-based arts at McDaniel College in Westminster.
Shel Browder, a blacksmith with Colonial Williamsburg's Anderson Blacksmith Shop, took part in Common Ground earlier this summer.
Now, it's Santiago's turn to showcase an entirely different aspect of Williamsburg's arts community.
Steven Pearson, an assistant professor of art and art history at McDaniel, met Santiago when they were both resident artists at Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vt., two years ago. He saw her paintings during an open studio showcase after the first week.
Impressed, Pearson, an accomplished painter, wanted to have Santiago display in Westminster, he said.
"It's perfect timing," said Pearson, referring to the start of school and the narratives that showcase life's pivotal moments and transitions in Santiago's works.
Gallery visitors will get a chance to see paintings that depict events important to Santiago, cakes and all.
"They are all narrative, so I guess I am telling my own story or a story that could be me," she said. "They are not autobiographical, but they could have been."
