He said O'Connell's work is an explosion of color and form and illustrates things that are growing and full of life.
"[O'Connell's exhibit] doesn't order you around; you ponder it, rather than it ponder you," Halpern said.
O'Connell said her work examines shapes, patterns and colors, artificially and in nature, and that she tried to create an intimate and social relationship with the audience.
"I want the audience to be in front of the painting and let the story develop for themselves," she said.
In addition, Halpern said O'Connell's exhibit made him think of an imaginative place that he would want to explore.
"[The exhibit] is very colorful ... full of life in an abstract way," he said.
Kelin Spina (senior-integrated arts) was O'Connell's roommate last semester and has watched O'Connell work in the studio before. She said O'Connell doesn't necessarily plan out what she's painting.
"She experiments a lot, [and] her work is really organic; it's very free flowing, and it reminds me of nature," Spina said.
Spina said this exhibit does differ from O'Connell's past work because in the past, O'Connell's work didn't have the same combination of sizes.
"Her work is something that no one else is doing right now, which is really unusual for an undergraduate artist ... it's definitely something to go see," she said.
Spina said O'Connell doesn't try to incorporate any messages into her work and that her paintings just remind one of a big burst of life.
O'Connell said that she doesn't have a specific message for this exhibit, but her general message is to try and create a happy picture.
"I look at [my paintings] as an escape and see that they point out the good things in life," she said.
Helen O'Leary, an associate professor of art, taught O'Connell for a semester. O'Leary said she has seen O'Connell's work from the beginning.
"I would describe her work as sensuous and whimsical ... it has a real passion for movement and color," she said. "[The paintings] hold their own with the things I have seen in New York."
O'Leary said the exhibit is definitely O'Connell's style.
"I'd recognize it anywhere. It's very much her own, and it commands a space," she said.
O'Leary said O'Connell is well-versed in contemporary art and has a great knowledge of history.
"I think, as we're approaching winter, these paintings will remind you of the spring that is to come; they're fresh and wonderful ... the only trouble is you'll want to own them," she said.
