On March 23rd, the first of two senior art shows opened in the Weaver Art Gallery in the Everest-Rohrer auditorium. The senior art show had to be split into two separate shows to be able to properly showcase each of the seven senior artists, according to senior art major Hannah Pithey.
Each senior displays their senior art project, which consists of several pieces. Each senior’s project is very different and unique from each other. Senior art major Kelly Taylor, whose art display is also currently on display, talks about the pressure of putting together such a project.
“Trying to put something forward that is me and professional and enough to show people what I can do was a little nerve-racking,” she said. “But it was fun.” The projects are a blend of the unique character of the artist and the culmination of skills that artist learned at Bethel. This makes for a wide variety of topics for the projects. Pithey decided that her project would be to illustrate a story that she wrote. Taylor’s project involved “capturing the nature and beauty that surrounds the town” that she grew up in. Anthony Anderson, another senior art major with his art display currently up, chose to make his art show a series of 11 drawings that “describe emotions or states of being without using physical objects.” Because each project is so unique, each artist had unique desired reactions from those viewing the artwork. “I hope it makes them curious,” said Pithey. She went on to explain that she still needs to put her story in the display with the artwork and that people have inquired about what the art meant (before the finished story was put in,) which she said, “makes me really happy because it means that they care about it.” In contrast, Anderson said that he wanted to just let the viewers draw their own conclusions, in large part because his art style involves mainly abstract art. “I'm an automatic writer,” Anderson said, “which basically means that I turn off my brain and let the artwork happen or, in this case, I let my hands do whatever. I almost had no influence in what happened.” Taylor, who did her art project on the natural beauty surrounding her hometown, hopes for some viewers to want to visit it. “[I hope] that people notice that there are [these] fun little towns…and want to actually get to know the history behind them,” she said, “and get to know why they are set up the way that they are, instead of just driving through and thinking that it's pretty.” The senior art show showcases the wide variety of unique motivations and styles of the artists. It is a proud accomplishment for the senior artists as the culmination of their art career at Bethel. The Senior Art Showcase 2.0 begins on April 13 and will run for two weeks.
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