George Mason senior Silas Fransen plans to pursue a career as a museum curator.
And thanks to the OSCAR Undergraduate Research Scholars Program, the art history major already has one exhibit to his name.
This past spring, Fransen curated the “Fountain of Truth: Women Artists and Their Perspectives on Aging” exhibit in collaboration with Mason Exhibitions at the Hylton Performing Arts Center for nearly two months in the Buchanan Partners Gallery.
Fransen, who will graduate this week, created and curated the exhibit. He received funding through the OSCAR Undergraduate Research Scholars Program, and was guided by George Mason faculty mentor LaNitra Berger, an associate professor of history and art history and the director of the African and African American Studies program.
“It was certainly the most challenging thing I’ve done at George Mason, but I definitely want to do more projects like these,” Fransen said. “Professor Berger said something early on that really altered how I was thinking about this project: ‘Curators are creating something out of nothing.’ It is this very creative role as we work alongside artists. There is just blank space before we walk in and turn this space into this phenomenal exhibit that is life-changing for some.”
“Fountain of Truth” featured artwork from five female artists—Cheryl D. Edwards, Britnee Scott, Eliza Tebo, Angela Hiebert, and George Mason alum Marie Guagenti, BFA ’24— in the Washington D.C., area, and culminated in a panel discussion moderated by Fransen in April at the Hylton Center.
The artists, ranging in age from 37 to 87, produced a variety of styles, including oil paintings, graffiti art, and metal, to share their experiences with aging. The panel discussion also included a performance from Tebo, who performed her debut single, “Fountain of Youth,” as Gemma Sky.
“They were all very inspiring,” Fransen said. “They each pulled out very unique topics and they each had their own takeaway from it. There is so much to be learned in just aging and it is just a very beautiful thing to be able to get to age.”
The idea stemmed from a paper one of his professors referenced in a Northern Baroque Art class. The piece examined why female saints were often depicted in a more youthful state whereas their male counterparts were shown in their older age.
“I couldn’t stop thinking about this paper,” Fransen said. “I wanted to see how contemporary artists were interacting with this history or how they felt about their own aging. So I was trying to place this history that had been dominated by men for a very long time back into the hands of women artists.”
Fransen, who worked on the exhibit for almost a year, put out a call for art, reviewed applications, and coordinated with the selected artists. Working with Mason Exhibitions, Fransen strategically placed the artwork throughout the space on the second floor of the Hylton Center.
“Having the opportunity to serve as an OSCAR faculty mentor was a professional highlight for me because it allowed me to nurture and guide a talented art history student who will become a successful and influential curator in the future,” Berger said. “Silas had the vision, the knowledge, and the drive to organize the exhibition from start to finish, and he brought together a dynamic, diverse, and thoughtful group of women artists to have an important artistic conversation about aging.”
A native of Front Royal, Virginia, Fransen plans to take a gap year before starting graduate school for art history. He said the “wide-breadth” of courses he took in art history—from the Black Renaissance in America, Art of the Islamic World, Arts of the United States, and Arts of Medieval England—helped him see the overlap of different cultures. He says this knowledge will influence his future aspirations, which include being a museum curator or working as a college professor and helping with museum exhibits.
“I love how George Mason’s art history department is so varied in subject,” he said. “I think it has prepared me a lot for the next step, especially taking on this large project on top of my classes.”
