By: Chloe Kline ‘21 Staff Writer

Rebekah Nickel, an art and visual culture major, has been heavily involved with the arts during her time at LVC.

Working mostly with acrylic and oil paint, Nickel has created multiple large-scale paintings for varying classes. They have included all kinds of subject matter including theatrical characters, personal themes and symbolism and cityscapes and landscapes.

Nickel was recognized for academic achievement in 2020 with a departmental award in art. She won the Michael P. Manubay ’11 Award in Art, an endowed award given to a student to create large-scale experimental artworks.

Since fall of 2020, Nickel has also been an intern at the Suzanne H. Arnold Art Gallery. Her current work has involved cataloging recent acquisitions for future exhibitions, including silkscreen prints and screens by the late artist Mary Lou Bongiovi, the former Sister Mary Lou Rose.

“Most of my work has been cataloging the work of Mary Lou Bongiovi,” Nickel said. “I’ll occasionally help out with other things like setting up the recent [photography] exhibition in Mund.”

In the future Nickel wants to pursue theatrical set design as a career. She has been involved with multiple productions with the Wig and Buckle Theater Company, helping out with tech, box office and other theater-related endeavors.

“Set design just kind of made sense as a career because it was a way to incorporate artwork and my love of theater,” Nickel said. “I love bringing the stories I enjoy to life, and creating large paintings as backdrops.”

Nickel will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in art and visual culture.