A group of graduate students from the LSU School of Art teamed up with Irish artists this summer to produce collaborative works that were shown at an exhibition in Galway City, Ireland to critical acclaim.

Entitled 003D, the show was the brainchild of Allison Regan, a second-year graduate student in sculpture who is a native of Galway. Reagan is also the founder of a Galway artists’ collective, and has maintained her ties to the group since moving to Baton Rouge to pursue her Master’s degree at LSU. Earlier this year, she came up with a way to bring her new friends together with her old by pairing them up to produce collaborative works.

“I realized there was an interest among my fellow graduate students to do an international art exhibit,” Regan says. “The members involved in my collective were enthusiastic about it also.”

Each student was paired with an Irish artist and for several months they collaborated via email and skype on ideas for their collective sculptures, paintings, prints and graphic designs. The theme of their works was itself based on the nature of communication and collaboration. Once the LSU students arrived in Ireland and met their counterparts, they had just 10 days to actually create their collaborations.

“One of the most difficult aspects to this was that none of the partners had ever met before,” says Regan. “I was the only one who knew the members of both groups.”

Despite the challenges, the show came together on time and was exhibited at the prestigious Galway Arts Center, where it ran for five days and was reviewed by several Irish newspapers. Participating students from LSU included: Regan (sculpture), Lindsey Maestri (ceramics), Cody Arnall (sculpture), David Carpenter (sculpture), Kit French (sculpture), and Tyler Mackie (painting).

The students raised money for their endeavor by holding craft sales. They were also awarded a Michael Doherty Scholarship from the LSU School of Art to help cover their costs.

Participating students say the experience was invaluable — not only because they had an opportunity to exhibit internationally but because of the collaborative nature of the project and the enhanced perspective they gained by working closely with artists from another country. So successful was the project, in fact, the Irish artists from Regan’s collective are planning to come to Baton Rouge next summer for a similar exhibition here.

“It was really an exciting undertaking and everyone who participated really enjoyed it,” Regan says. “We’re looking forward to working together again.”