A culmination of four years of work. The final test of mettle and skill. The last hurrah of every art major: the senior art show.
“It is essentially our senior thesis,” senior Alyssa Morrin said. “I’m kind of nervous because I dabble, but I like it. It’s good to take account and see what I’ve done for four years.”
The senior show acts akin to the comprehensive exams in many other subjects, senior Nell O’Leary said. It requires you to pick the best of your work, in and out of class, as well as to show a well rounded skill set and also to be able to set up and show work under pressure.
For some, the show will be the first time that their art has been shown to the general public; for others family will be flying in to see examples of art that, living far away, they hadn’t yet seen.
“I’m excited, and I’m kind of stressed out about it because I have German Comps the same week. My family is flying to see the show from California,” senior Natalie Knudsen said.
Four senior women are showing work in the exhibit opening April 10: Natalie Knudsen, Alyssa Morrin, Nell O’Leary and Theresa Whalen.
“We’ve got some incredible power, and we’re pretty diverse,” O’Leary said. “As a whole we’re a great representation of the Hillsdale Art Department.”
One of Knudsen’s favorite parts of the show is seeing the works of her peers from outside of the classroom environment.
“Some of the pieces I find most interesting are the ones artists do outside of class,” she said. “It’s kind of cool to see how they branch out how they find things they are so proud of to put in their senior shows. They are taking what they learned and going further with it.”
Each artist finds some source of inspiration and mediums that fit individual tastes. For O’Leary, oil painting is her medium, and people inspire her.
“People. People, faces and bodies because people are so fascinating,” she said. “People are beautiful, I can’t help myself. They are my inspiration.”
Senior Alyssa Morrin finds inspiration in more abstract concepts.
“I really like shapes and lines,” she said. “I love high contrast things because they are black and white, and I really like color – like bright colors.”
An art show is more than a room of creative self-expression. It represents the artists own inspiration and perception of the world, which can be focused for the appreciation of others.
“If you like to have professional people watch you can do that through my paintings because you can stare at them, and they won’t stare back,” O’Leary said. “It’ another reason to come to an art show: to stare and say ‘oh.’”
tsawyer1@hillsdale.edu
