Students and alumni shine in the 20th annual SCAD Fall Fine Arts Showcase

On Friday night, November 7, the halls and classrooms at SCAD Atlanta were bustling with students, faculty, their families and visitors for the 20th annual Fall Fine Arts Showcase. The show featured a diverse array of more than 450 works by more than 150 current SCAD students and alumni that spanned nearly every medium, from illustration and painting to sculpture, printmaking, film, photography and tech-infused works.

During the event, visitors bunched together, occasionally stopping to take photographs with the artists before perusing open studios in which artist demonstrations and a free portrait session were offered. Nearby, a DJ spun lively tunes and folks danced or lounged on comfortable, stylish chairs. 

Thomas Dang Vu, director of fine art at SCAD, met me in an open studio surrounded by exquisite paintings on easels. Around the perimeter, a few artists worked on their pieces, seemingly nonplussed by the influx of visitors just over their shoulders who hoped to catch a glimpse of their process. An accomplished artist in his own right, with a CV that includes interior design and fashion as well as painting, Vu explained that he founded the academic resource hub SCADextra to ensure equal access to traditional fine art processes, which in turn assist with virtually every other art form one might pursue. “If you have a piece of paper and charcoal, you can always create the dream. You can always create that mood, that fantasy, in oil paint or sculpture. That’s a skill that we need to preserve from our ancestors,” said Vu. 

The SCAD Fall Fine Arts Showcase is an annual event dedicated to showcasing the works of standout SCAD student artists as well as providing some real-world experience selling their works. Sales are managed by SCAD Art Sales, an in-house art advisory and consultancy program. SCAD is the only university to offer a commercial gallery service exclusively representing students, alumni and faculty, and it does so on a global scale. Through its partnerships with notable local companies such as Coca-Cola, the Mercedes Benz Stadium, Meals on Wheels Atlanta, Midtown Union and more, students get unique access and opportunities to showcase and sell their works. 

“SCAD’s Fine Arts Showcase is so much more than an exhibition — it’s a dynamic celebration of SCAD’s vibrant creative spirit,” said Dale Clifford, dean for the schools of Fine Arts, Visual Communication and Foundation Studies, in a statement. 

The SCAD Fall Fine Arts Showcase is not only an enjoyable event — full to the brim with promising young talent and all the excitement that comes from an exhibit of this scale — but also a valuable opportunity for others, like myself, to see the inner workings of the university. 

As we walked through the halls, I felt inspired by the classrooms and studios, each space calling me to try my hand at a new art form. It has been nearly 15 years since I graduated from college, and, for the first time in a long time, I longed to be back in a classroom. The effect was amplified when I saw young children, my own 5-year-old daughter included, witness these young artists proudly displaying their works and showing off their skills. “You know, you could be a student here one day,” I whispered to my daughter, and I think I caught a twinkle of promise in her eyes as she considered the thought. 

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Isadora Pennington is senior editor of art + design and dance. An experienced writer and photographer with a deep love for the arts, Isadora founded the Sketchbook newsletter with Rough Draft Atlanta in 2022. She is also president of the Avondale Arts Alliance and director of the Avondale Arts Center.