For nearly 120 years, graduating PAFA students showcase their artwork in May at the Annual Student Exhibition, the longest-standing exhibition of its kind.

The month-long group exhibition brings together about 100 students to curate, install, and sell their work in a professional setting. Planning for the ASE begins in the fall and requires military precision to ensure a smooth exhibition that doubles as a learning experience for student artists.

Luckily, PAFA has Brian Boutwell (Certificate '04), a former Naval officer and artist, who makes sure it all comes together smoothly.

“For the ASE you have to be on top of your game,” said Boutwell, PAFA’s School Exhibitions Coordinator. “It’s like when I was in the Navy and we were doing an underway replenishment. You’re bringing your ship alongside an oiler and there we are passing the lines, and everything has to go just so.”

Boutwell spent 14 years in the Navy working in operations and planning, so he’s no stranger to mounting large-scale events.

After a career in the military, Boutwell came to PAFA by way of Washington DC. He took an art class at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design and decided he wanted to keep going with his art practice. Boutwell didn’t need a BFA, he already has one in finance, but he wanted to find a school that would allow him to study more.

Through PAFA’s Certificate program, Boutwell was able to hone his painting skills and find a place in Philadelphia’s art community.

“I came here and started studying and I didn't even know what figurative art was. I thought: Why are we drawing all of these naked people? I just wanted to try things out and I liked painting and was ready to take a leap,” he said.

He settled into gestural abstraction and exhibited at the ASE three times while he was a student.

While the ASE is a chance for students to show off their own work, Boutwell was just as focused on helping his classmates shine, too.

“I had these big paintings so it wasn't that hard to hang my ASE wall,” he said. “As soon as the paintings went up I asked people if they needed help, so I got involved helping students. There’s something about hanging up a painting, measuring and getting it where you want it. That somehow gives me deep personal satisfaction.”

Boutwell is still helping students as they navigate the Annual Student Exhibition. After graduating from PAFA, he started working in the painting department and assisted professor Jill Rupinski as she ran the ASE.

In 2011, he took over her ASE duties and has been guiding students through the homestretch of their PAFA experience ever since.

“The art world is kind of harsh but I try to make the ASE a great experience for students. I know I have a great time,” he said. “Those 5 days of installation, there’s nothing like it. It's good stress.”

To say the least, it is stressful mounting a group show involving upwards of 100 artists in less than a week. Museum exhibitions at PAFA often take weeks to install.

Students plan their ASE walls for months in the lead up to installation, but it is a race to the finish when it comes to hanging work and finishing touches.

For many students, it’s the first time they’re exhibiting in a museum.

“It’s not like a raw space in Kensington,” Boutwell said. “So that can be thought of as disadvantage to some but the advantage is you’re in a place on 128 North Broad Street and people will come to the museum and see your work.”

Boutwell is there to help students make sure their work looks the best it can in the space they have, and through the year’s he’s seen some very ambitious projects.

“There was a student who wanted to build a highly charged electrode and dip it into the water and it would pull up this plasma,” he said. “He had to build these big massive welded things and build a cage around it to isolate it. He worked a year on this thing and then he installed it in the ASE. I had to find a place that had power and all of the technical hookups, he had to go get someone to verify that this was a safe installation, but it happened.”

As much as he can help students, he is always striving to give them more.

“I wish I could do studio visits with all of the students who are exhibiting,” Boutwell said. “It’s fun having conversations with students and seeing little light bulbs go off and their minds working and see how everything fits together.”

—LeAnne Matlach (lmatlach@pafa.org)