Mangean wins People's Choice

From Jackie Hooper, Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery:

Keene State College senior art major Rachel Mangean was voted the winner of the People’s Choice Award for Coral Reef Warming, a sculpture displayed in the Emerging Art exhibit, presented by the KSC Art Department through Saturday, May 5, at the Thorne.

During the first weeks of the annual Keene State art students’ exhibition, visitors were invited to vote for their favorite work of art. Mangean won the majority of the 395 votes cast. She will receive a $100 cash award from the Friends of the Thorne along with a People’s Choice Commendation.

The ceramic, wire, and fabric sculpture installation shows the effects of coral bleaching caused by acidification of the oceans. The piece replicates the brilliant colors of a living color reef and then fades into the gray and white colors of a dying reef. Mangean, who has never seen live coral in the ocean, learned about this ecosystem during a biology class at Keene State. She now belongs to an international Coral Reef Alliance that works to save coral reefs throughout the world.

Mangean is one of 13 B.A. and 11 B.F.A. students who will be graduating May 6 whose works are on display in Emerging Art.