A group of Pepperdine University faculty and students will present work at one of the contemporary art world's most prestigious venues when Love & Mercy, Blue opens May 9 at Palazzo Bembo in Venice, Italy.
The exhibition is part of Personal Structures — Confluences, organized by the European Cultural Centre Italy and running through November 2026 across Palazzo Mora, Palazzo Bembo and Marinaressa Gardens.
Curated by Pepperdine faculty members Yvette Gellis and Kira Maria Shewfelt, the show brings together five faculty artists — Gretchen Batcheller, Kate Parsons, Shewfelt, Ty Pownall and Gellis — alongside five student artists: Adrineh Sahakian, Davyny Olivas, Mason Turner, Mirian Kim and Naomi Popple.
The exhibition centers on the color blue as both aesthetic and spiritual force, exploring themes of mercy, empathy and human connection. Faculty and students are paired as mentor and mentee, with each pair interpreting blue through personal, formal and symbolic approaches.
"Blue becomes a site of encounter: between inner and outer worlds, between maker and viewer, between teacher and student," according to exhibition materials.
The show draws on blue's significance across art history, referencing artists including Wassily Kandinsky, Yves Klein and Lita Albuquerque, as well as the color's transcendent use across cultures and centuries.
Organizers say the exhibition is designed to reflect Pepperdine's core values, presenting a model of arts education rooted in mentorship, faith and reciprocal inquiry rather than academic hierarchy. Student artists are positioned alongside faculty as peers, gaining international exposure and professional experience on a major contemporary art stage.
"By exhibiting alongside mentors on an international stage, student artists are positioned not as apprentices, but as peers in a living continuum of artistic inquiry," exhibition materials state.
The project also carries a broader cultural message. Organizers describe Love & Mercy, Blue as a counterpoint to divisive imagery in contemporary geopolitical discourse — offering instead what they call a statement of mercy, spiritual depth and reverence for human dignity.
Personal Structures — Confluences runs May 9 through November 2026 in Venice.
Edited by SMDP Staff