Marsha Herron ’07
Art piece by Haley Winchester titled "Sincerity."
An event which was once held to showoff senior art work is now done for credit as well.
For this first time, the annual Senior Art Exhibition is a class in which student artists receive credit for their work over the semester. The exhibit titled, “Totally Exposed” is on display at the Hofheimer Library now through May 15.
Since the course has changed this year, so have the requirements. For this exhibition, students had to write a proposal about what artwork they were going to create, write a research paper discussing art history tied into their work and sign a contract.
Abstract art created by Melissa Kepley.
“The contract is so they [students] know that their artwork will be in the show,” said Sharon Beachum, associate professor of art.
Three seniors participated in this year’s Senior Art Exhibition: Melissa Kepley, Amanda Pickett and Haley Winchester.
Senior Melissa Kepley received an undergraduate research grant in support of her artwork in the exhibit. Kepley has chosen to display four works of art, selected from many pieces created throughout the semester.
“I worked extremely hard to find ways to abstractly express the feelings and ideas that were in my head,” said Kepley. For her, the four pieces shown are the “one’s that best represent my feelings.” To portray her inner feelings, Kepley drew from her life experiences and feelings of loneliness, abandonment and the overwhelming feeling of life itself.
Given a rough estimate, Kepley said that she has spent 70 hours during the whole process including brainstorming, consumer periods and the creation process. And she feels the hard work has paid off.
“I do feel like these pieces are some of my best,” she said.
Even though the semester and course was intense, all the long hours, hard work and dedication has paid off for the students. The main reward – having the public view the artwork.
Senior Haley Winchester, who grew up in the Colorado Rockies, is influenced by the art of nature. Using the beauty of nature, Winchester expresses her feelings from a standpoint that she is a product of a nurturing environment.
“I must acknowledge the sensation within me, a desire to need and create, an energy that runs through my veins, and power that emanates through my body,” she said.
The technique of photo transfer, created by Amanda Pickett.
Senior Amanda Pickett who normally works in sculpture decided to display eight of her pieces in the exhibit. Her original plan of transferring photographs onto clay didn’t work out as well as she had hoped. After much thought and testing she found that transferring photographs onto pieces of wood, a process called photo transfer, creates unique pieces of art.
Even though Pickett’s original plan did not materialize, the process of testing new material helped her learn more about different art materials and techniques. In fact, she now enjoys photo transfer just as much, if not more than sculpture.
“I think I have found my niche,” she said.
Pickett also feels that the class and exhibit have pushed her to try new things and experience what artists go through to have their work displayed in an exhibit. “It has prepared us [students] for showing work in a gallery,” she said.