During this year’s Senior Art Exhibition, three senior art students presented their work in the Fawick Art Gallery from Feb. 22 through March 22.
The pieces, created by Alexis Clark, Jessica Stevenson and Sarah Castrigano, showcased the creativity and experience gained through their time in the Studio Art Program at Baldwin Wallace University.
Planning the exhibit was the first step for these three artists.
“I think we talked, the three of us, and pretty much came up with our individual themes. By the end of our junior year, I think we already sort of established what direction each of us was going into, and we went from there,” Castrigano said. “I think just each individual body really rapidly developed over the course of the year, especially during fall semester.”
Each piece of art in this exhibition shows off various pieces, from clay sculptures to prints. Each piece captures a different style and identity that encompasses the whole, as well as the individual who created it.
“We had to take a main concentration. Our junior and senior year was a time for us to gauge what kind of media we wanted to do,” Clark said. “We took those ideas and thought about how we could incorporate them into our different mediums.”
While each student had a concentration, there was no set theme for this exhibition.
“We didn’t have to pick just one idea,” Clark said. “We had some other ideas that we were able to add to the show. It adds to the whole exhibit.”
Inspiration came from many different places, such as how Stevens was inspired by her close friend.
“My friend is definitely like the procession piece,” Stevenson said. “One of the pieces is actually my sister. It’s a prom picture that I decided I was going to morph into this portrait of her and I’m super proud of it.”
While showing off their skills, this exhibition was also an experiment with new techniques.
“I think my favorite is the piece with the two birds in a nest,” Castrigano said. “I didn’t spend the most time on that… it happened really fast and there was a good flow. I just love how it came out. I was experimenting with the glazes, and everything worked out and survived.”
Castrigano said that one of the benefits of the program is finding one’s flow with creating art.
“I think that’s the best thing to come from the studio arts program here,” Castrigano said. “It’s just being in the studio and consistently making art, and I think I don’t want to lose the momentum that I’ve gained here.”
While producing art in the studio throughout college, some of the seniors changed their paths.
“Coming into the program, I wanted to be an animator, and I thought that taking my art and putting it in film would be a cool medium to do,” Clark said. “Then, as I was kind of going through college, I decided in my junior year that I would rather teach kids to be an art teacher and kind of teach them what I learned here.”
