Will Stennett
News Editor
The senior art show will consist of six seniors presenting their bodies of work in the Eugenia Art Gallery, which is located in the campus’ art department.
The annual art show is a chance for seniors to discuss and exhibit their work to the public and student body alike. But as with any portfolio, streamlining a four-year career into a short discussion and a handful of work takes preparation and understanding the nature of the work as a reflection of the artist.
Grace Steele, 22, a graphic design major, gives credit to a senior course that not only prepares students for the senior show, but for life after college.
“We take a class called art as a profession where we are prepared for life after college, getting a job and also preparing for our senior show,” says Steele.
In some aspects, students also see the exhibit as promoting their body of work.
“I guess, depending on your major, you would be promoting yourself. I think more for fine artists like painters it would promote them more since they send work to galleries,” says Steele.
Bobby Anthony, 26, a painting major who already has work exhibited in a gallery in Jackson, still sees this as an opportunity to share his work with the public.
“As an artist, ultimately the goal is to have your own art show or to have your work in a gallery. Eventually you want to share your work with someone else,” Anthony says.
Graphic design and painting have two different approaches to art. Both work to implement aesthetics, but both also communicate on separate levels.
To work as a graphic designer, the ultimate goal is to promote and, more specifically, to communicate a message in the most digestible way.
“I want my work to have a purpose, not create art just to look at,” says Steele. “I want to be advertising or promoting something. The easier to read and the simpler the design, the more I like it. I like things that make people want to interact because of the playfulness of the design. But simplicity is what I go for so that whatever I am trying to sell or communicate can be quickly understood.”
In painting, the message the artist is communicating can be more varied and ultimately can be as digestible as the artist wishes.
“My paintings, I want them to reflect how I see the world,” says Anthony. “I want these ‘monsters’ to be a disembodied representation of how ugly people will interact with each other.”
The senior art show isn’t just for seniors; it can be a teaching tool for other art students as well.
Dustin Vance, a senior culinary arts major and a sophomore graphic design major, believes he is lucky to be able to learn first-hand from the seniors participating.
“Luckily, one of my best friends is preparing for the show,” says Vance. “So I get to see what they have to do to prepare.”
He is still a couple of years away from exhibiting his work in his class art exhibition, and he is in no hurry for the day to arrive.
“It’s having a cohesive body of work that reflects who I am,” says Vance. “It’s that process of finding that, that will be the most difficult.”
The senior show will be Friday, Nov. 22, at 5:30 p.m. and will have appetizers and refreshments followed by student presentations. The doors are open to the public, faculty and students.