This article is featured in the 2025 Freshman Special Issue.
Dartmouth’s robust academic culture can sometimes overshadow the arts. Discussions with student and local artists, however, reveal a varied and exceptional community on campus and in the Upper Valley.
Studio art and computer science double major and artist Helen Cui ’27 said that the studio art department encourages students to “just buy in.” She explained that the major’s small size facilitated her “intimate relationship with all the faculty members,” whose support has enabled her pursuit of two independent projects at Dartmouth.
Studio art and computer science double major Helen Cui ’27 sits in front of her painting inspired by the aesthetics of the Queer Intimism art movement and “film stills” on August 19 in the Black Visual Arts Center.
One work-in-progress project is the production of four conceptual sculpture installations, fully funded by a $5,000 Dartmouth art grant called Project Green Light. In the form of “caves” with written slogans like “Play,” they invite viewers’ interaction with them by drawing freely on their surfaces.
Cui learned welding and metalwork for the project in addition to using 3D modelling techniques learned at Dartmouth. Her second independent project is a series of paintings that explore “crowd dynamics,” inspired by the Queer Intimism art movement and “film stills.”
Student artist Helen Cui ’27 works on her sculpture project in an outdoor studio space on August 19. Cui plans to construct four sculptures using skills she learned in Architecture 1.
Helen Cui ’27 plans to incorporate a mosaic of mirrors, beads, and recycled beer cans in her sculpture project.
Cui is also exploring “the intersection of AI and art” in her academic research, which she hopes to inform her Senior Seminar culminating project for Studio Art.
Cui said that at the “higher levels” in the department, the professors “just want you to do what makes you tick.” She appreciates the department’s support for her ventures into new artistic territory with an emphasis on “learning.”
“Not all my work is going to be beautiful,” Cui reflected. “That's what they say in the painting department or in general: kill your darlings. Don't get [too] focused; move on; make a lot, break things.”
Helen Cui ’27 placed a bucket in a communal space at a greek house to collect empty beer cans. She plans to use the recycled cans to complete her sculpture project.
Dorothy Piech ’28, who has been dancing since age four, continued her career in college with the Dartmouth Dance Ensemble — one of the Hopkins Center for the Arts’ professionally-led performance groups — and with the Dartmouth Classical Ballet Theater, a student-led club providing drop-in ballet classes that she also teaches.
Piech said that outside of the many audition dance groups on campus, she also appreciates open groups such as Dance Ensemble or DCBT, which she called “really easy to join.”
“It allows you to explore,” she said.
Piech explained that although some of the works of Dartmouth Dance Ensemble — which performs once a term — are more fully choreographed by the directors, others are more experimental, involving “self choreography and improv.”
Beyond dance, Piech said that working in the Hop’s marketing department has made her aware of the “surprising” frequency of arts events across campus, which she also found “super easy” to attend.
Meanwhile, in White River Junction, Vt., Jordyn Fitch ’20 works as production manager at Junction Arts & Media. They said their passion for media arts was cultivated by their involvement with the Dartmouth Film Society as well as a film production class taken with JAM executive director Samantha Davidson Green. They added that they also generally “spent a lot of time just wandering around the Hood [Museum],” which they described as a hidden gem on campus.
Junction Arts & Media producer Jordyn Fitch ’20 pictured at her office desk on August 20.
Fitch, who majored in film & media studies at Dartmouth, said they were “astounded” by the “incredibly vibrant arts community” they found upon returning to the Upper Valley.
Fitch described this community as “uniquely DIY” with a not-for-profit, passion-driven “ethos” reflecting White River Junction’s unofficial motto: “We make our own fun.”
JAM films various community programming and creative projects throughout the year. They are available for hire on local projects in the Upper Valley.
Green echoed this sentiment. She attributed the community’s richness to a combination of local arts organizations — among them the Center for Cartoon Studies, Upper Valley Music Center and Alliance for the Visual Arts Gallery as well as Lebanon Opera House, Northern Stage, Shaker Bridge Theater and Parish Players Theater — alongside the presence of “multidisciplinary” independent artists.
“There’s a balance of wanting to create excellent work, but also wanting to be very humane and contribute back to our communities while we do it — and that’s not always true in bigger and more competitive or more money-driven markets,” she added.
Executive director of Junction Arts & Media center Samantha Davidson Green works at her desk on August 20. Green was a lecturer for the College's film and media department from 2017 to 2019.
Three years ago, Green spearheaded the creation of JAM by merging two previously existing organizations — Community Access Television and the White River Indie Film Festival. The merger was fuelled by the desire to “to bring people back together,” especially after the pandemic, through the creation of a community media arts space.
In addition to running a range of media education programming for all ages and events such as Pride Prom and the Twin State Comic and Zine Fair, JAM hosts the annual indie film festival, which showcases new cinema alongside a “Filmmaker Friday” workshops series and panel discussions.
As this year’s Festival Director, Fitch said they are “working really hard to bring edgy, boundary-pushing local and global cinema” to a region that they explained does not typically have access to screenings of many new films.
Outside of this programming and helping record community events, Fitch described JAM as a rich resource for any media-makers — student and local alike — with a range of equipment available for public use as well as just a hangout space, open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Beyond the media arts, local artist Amy Fortier — a 2024 Artist in Residence at Marsh Billings Rockefeller National Historical Park in Woodstock, Vt. — produces pattern-based work specializing in detailed mandala images.
Fortier is also involved in the North Country Community Theater in Lebanon and has taught art sessions at AVA Gallery and Dartmouth.
“I started literally by doodling in my notebook. I was taking notes for classes, and I kind of realized I was doing a lot of the same doodles,” Fortier said. “I just had a collection of things that I created, and eventually found a way to put them out in the world.”
Fortier had a breakthrough career moment when she was selected to paint a four foot tall fiberglass pig as part of Hanover’s 250th Anniversary Celebration in 2011, which became a famous town fixture while displayed outside Lou’s Restaurant & Bakery.
Fortier said that the urge to create comes naturally to her.
“It’s what I want to be doing a lot of the time,” she said. “I just want to be making stuff.”
Whether it’s JAM or somewhere else in the Upper Valley, Fitch encourages every Dartmouth student they meet to “go explore.”
“There’s so much happening,” she said.
JAM operates a podcasting center available for booking by residents of the Upper Valley. JAM staff will help residents produce and edit their first few podcast episodes for free and can be hired to edit after then.
Avery Lin ’27 is an arts editor and writer from New York City. She studies Comparative Literature, including French and Classical Greek, at Dartmouth and also writes for Spare Rib Magazine.
Alesandra Gonzales is a reporter, photographer, and videographer for The Dartmouth from south Texas, majoring in psychology with a minor in film. Outside of The D, she likes to workout, watch The Ranch, and do EMS work. She is a licensed EMT in three states.
