This year’s Senior Art Exhibition was on display in Baldwin Wallace University’s Kleist Center for Art and Drama in the Fawick Gallery from February 24 to March 21. This month-long exhibition, presented by the Art and Art History Departments, consisted of works by seven senior Studio Art and Art Education majors.
Each senior had to create an artist statement regarding his or her body of work for the exhibit as a form of capstone or thesis for the Senior Seminar art class. It varies from student to student, but the art majors begin to explore their passions and begin working on their projects for the Senior Exhibition as early as their junior year.
“Looking at all the art work, you could tell each artist put so much time and effort into the pieces,” Katherine Bennie, BW senior, said. “I liked how diverse the show was and how you could see the artists’ personalities show through.”
Each of the seniors focused on a particular type of media in their artwork. The students’ works are as followed:
Kate Carabin displayed multiple ceramic rock sculptures, a Zen Sand Garden and black and white photography of rocks in nature.
Diana Hlywiak presented several printed digital photographs depicting portraits of the human figure relating to vibrant surroundings in surreal environments.
Aliya Murphy showed sculptures and ceramic pieces centered upon the theme of nature. Several examples include ceramic tree bark and an acorn sculpture.
Allie Primisch displayed 10 oil paintings with minimal oil pastel, all joined in the theme of body language, the human figure and the connection between the individual and the environment.
Cheyenne Richmond suspended large-scale canvas oil paintings, focusing on the theme of the human body captured in a moment of time.

Sarah Robasser created five sculptures of the human figure, representing male, female and the merging of the two genders.
Niko Williams created digital photographs of realistic portrait drawings that were blown-up, printed and displayed on a large scale in the gallery. His focus was the human face in portraiture in extreme close-up detail.
“I really enjoyed seeing the level of skill, creativity and expertise shown by the artists that was evident in all of their work,” Sophia Viglione, BW senior, said. “The art was displayed in a very tasteful and professional manner.”
The seniors must work together to plan the layout of the gallery and hang the show themselves. The entire process is meant to give students the opportunity for real-world experience. They are not graded on the exhibit, but as in the professional art world, they must perform well to impress.
Students had the option of putting their works up for sale. Several chose to mark their pieces with “NFS” (not for sale), or “POR” (price on request).
The artists could determine the price of their pieces by several different factors, including hours spent working on the piece, the cost of the materials used or the size of the finished product. Over half of the artists sold pieces at this year’s exhibition.
“It’s great to see BW students getting such real-world experience in which they can both exhibit and sell their art,” Viglione said.
“I can’t wait to see what they do in the future,” Bennie said.