Transforming Tradition: Students Help Create Art Installation for the Ages

When Lawrenceville’s Artist-in-Residence Stewy Robertson ’11 was engaged to revitalize the entrance of the original portion of what has become Tsai Field House - the H. Lyals Battle ’67 and Darrell A. Fitzgerald ’68 Atrium in honor of the School's first Black students – the educator knew it would be an extraordinary learning opportunity for his students.  

“It would not be the ethos of the project or the institution,” he said, to create the installation without an experiential education component.

Students applied to work on the installation and were chosen by Robertson. Over the fall and winter terms, 16 students (including one documentary photographer and one videographer) assisted in creating an installation for the Atrium.

Emilie Pan ’24 said, “I’ve seen Mr. Robertson’s work and thought ‘Wow, this guy does really cool stuff!’ so I was curious what I would learn.” Sofia Keith ’25 echoed this sentiment, explaining that Robertson’s use of mixed media, in particular, was “something I’ve never been exposed to before, so it has really forced me to get out of my comfort zone. It’s something that I now use in my own personal work, and that I really value learning from him.”

Their mission has been to create an installation for the Atrium that fully represents Lawrenceville in 2024. “It’s been an amazing process to see how we’ve gotten from scratch to where we are now,” said Sophie Yang ‘26.

 While the photographer and videographer documented the process, the artists collaborated closely with Robertson from conceptualization to realization. “There are things that I could not have put into a lesson plan that I've taught them while working on this project. So much has been in the moment of actually creating the installation,” Robertson said.

While Robertson conceived and has led the project, he emphasized that the installation ultimately belongs to the students.

“It’s going to be their interactions with it, their thoughts and reflections when they come back as alumni,” he explained. “Once I release this project, I no longer own it, so it only makes sense to amplify that sense of community ownership by having community members participate.”

Central to Robertson's approach is fostering a collaborative environment where student input is valued, which has been appreciated by his students. “Mr. Robertson could have an initial thought for the composition, but he respects and values our opinion so much that we could truly change that initial thought into what all we collectively agree upon is the best,” Sofi Keith ‘25 explained. “I really value that about the entire process.”

Fifth Former Thalia Honorat concurred, stating, “Mr. Robertson says that everyone leaves their little fingerprint on the canvas, not actually, but in the way that they draw their lines or the way that they contour things. Each little piece of the canvas is going to look a little different based on who sketched it and who painted it. And there's something really nice about that, even if you can't see it in the final product, just to know that all those different hands made a little piece of it.”

While there’s no actual oval table present, the Harkness values of listening, being open minded, and collaborating have been “guiding principles in this artwork,” said Keith.  The idea of “destroying the power hierarchy that exists within student-teacher relationships,” she continued, has put students on a “journey where we’re all trying to learn from each other.”

Art is generally a solitary activity, so working on a team project has been, Honorat said, “interesting because I'm learning to work with a new artist's perspective. It's not just my vision or whatever I feel like doing with it. It's trying to understand the vision of someone else and put it into practice the best way that I can. That’s definitely new and a little challenging, but I think you can learn a lot by practicing with someone who has more experience than you.”

The students agreed that collaborating on the installation has had the unexpected benefit of inspiring them to spend more time on their personal projects. “Art has always been a massive passion of mine. I’ve had to struggle to find moments when I could sit down and finally create art that I truly wanted to make, which is why I’m so thankful [for this opportunity]. Even though I’m not creating a personal artwork, it’s still challenging me to try new techniques and styles. It’s been a stepping stone for me to enhance my own artistic abilities,” said Yang.

Having this dedicated time and space to create art - and finding a community of equally passionate people - has been valuable to Honorat. With Lawrenceville’s busy schedule, she noted, “It can be easy to lose sight of the fact that art is enjoyable and it's good for you. And that it's not just something that you do for other people. It's something that you do because you're passionate about it and it makes you feel more of yourself.”

Devoting time to passion projects also provides energy for life’s more mundane tasks, Pan explained. “I find that when you set out time in your day to focus on your true passions, it ends up reviving you more so you can get back into your responsibilities with more vigor and get them done more quickly than you would ever think possible,” she said. “I think it's really important for anyone, regardless of what their passion is, to never put them aside and never stop pursuing them thinking that they're a waste of time because they actually will help you in the long run.”

Creating a project that represents today’s Lawrenceville for future Lawrentians comes with “a lot of responsibility,” said Keith. “Whenever we got together to brainstorm, Mr. Robertson really emphasized that the installation was so much more than the visuals and the aesthetics. It was more about what that meant. What would it mean to have these races of people represented, these genders of people? We want to make it as inclusive and durable as possible.”

At the same time, Keith said, “There's a kind of beauty in capturing what Lawrenceville looks like today and how it genuinely feels like today. And maybe decades into the future, people will look back and actually admire, oh, look how far we have come from this point.”

Sharing her aspirations for the installation to resonate with viewers, Yang stated, “This project is going to be something that’s long-lasting... I think it’s really meaningful how something that just came out of a few minds can achieve something so big in the long run.”