From inspiration to fruition

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From inspiration to fruition

1. The Prelude

As an art major’s senior year approaches, so does a gargantuan graduation requirement unique to their department: prepare and participate in a senior art exhibit that displays the best work of their entire undergraduate careers.

“They’ve been preparing for four years by producing work,” Professor of Art Sam Knecht said.

But that is just the beginning.

“The show will highlight work done in the program, but also include work done independently,” Knecht said. “It’s a balance that reflects the character of the art department as well as what they are doing independently that might lie outside of our scope.”

Projects currently on display range from serene landscapes and delicate portraits to a feathered black cocktail dress by senior Maxine D’Amico and hand-bound books by senior Megan McNeil.

“Students get the professional experience of assuming primary responsibility for senior shows,” Knecht said. “The professors provide a good deal of coaching and cheering, but it’s entirely their project.”

 

2. Senior year

All art majors take a senior capstone course —  ART-500, formally titled “Senior Exhibit and Portfolio” —  to acquaint them with business practices of freelance artists, Knecht said. “This includes specific projects that have application to the senior show.”

In addition to designing a home studio on a $5,000 budget (“That would be nice” muttered D’Amico) and a website, seniors also design business cards and write artist’s statements that are displayed at the show. Furthermore, they create online portfolios that represent their best works, generally corresponding with those displayed in the show.

“It’s all about how to approach graduation and continue to work as an artist,” D’Amico said.

“That’s when we really begin to get our ideas together,” senior Frances Anderson added.

Over the course of the class, students learn the gallery’s mechanics, including how lights are positioned, walls are moved, and works are hung, Knecht said.

“They need a unified, individual look from the placement of the walls down to the title card,” Knecht said. “We encourage them to think of their exhibit as one huge three-dimensional design problem.”

Seniors should also begin considering advertizing, the reception, and — most importantly — framing early on. All of these tasks have to be accomplished independently and are not covered in the capstone class.

Above all, framing poses the most difficulty for students. Knecht recommends art majors begin having their works framed as underclassmen “to avoid eleventh-hour panics.”

Students can order frames online, have them professionally done in specialty stores, find in second-hand or craft stores, or make them from scratch.

“But it’s really expensive and time consuming no matter how you go about it,” D’Amico said.

 

3. The Mad Dash

“We’re all going crazy,” senior Moriah Morgan said.  “Well, I am.”

“But we have it under control,” D’Amico added.

“It’s just . . . busy,” Morgan said.

“Seniors only get 48 hours to load in work, get it all arranged, presented, and attached to walls,” Knecht said.

In the two-day dash to assemble the exhibit, students first run around and pull nails out of the walls, hang their pictures, and set the lights. They then add and adjust details ranging from title cards and guest books to fresh flowers.

“I remember seeing friends all stressed out over it,” D’Amico said. “So we’re working slowly and steadily, making the process of assembling everything much easier.”

 

4. The Display

But the night — or very early morning —before the exhibit opens, senior art majors can leave the gallery proud of a professional job beautifully done. And all they have left to fret about is the reception, which, comparatively and often literally, is a piece of cake.

“It’s tons of time,” said Anderson, whose parents travelled 12 hours to attend the show. “The amount of time I spent on title cards alone is impressive.”

If a statistician included the amount of time spent producing the artwork, the hours that go into each and every show are countless, Morgan said.

“You can’t attach a number to it,” senior art major Rebecca Brill said.

But the senior shows do exactly what the Art Department wanted to do, Knecht said.

“It shows off the program and makes evident the individual creativity of each graduating arts student.” 

      vcooney@hillsdale.edu