The Waffle House Senior Art Exhibit is showing now, featuring art from senior art majors and housemates Hannah Ahern, Kaitlin McNiel, and Valerie Copan.
Copan described the exhibit’s theme as “eclectic” and said that it covers a number of artistic mediums and styles.
The exhibit serves as a culmination and showcase of art majors’ college output, and each of the three artists has at least 16 pieces in the exhibit.
The three have know each other since freshman year and during the fall semester, they decided to do their senior art exhibits together.
“We know each other well, as well as each other’s artistic styles,” Ahern said in an email.
Ahern’s artwork covers the mediums of sculpture, watercolor, oil, and charcoal. Her favorite piece of art she has on exhibit is a sculpture of two dancers called “Ascending Joy.” She made the sculpture last year in collaboration with Aaron Sanford ’14.
“It was fun to put our creative energies together to create something beautiful,” Ahern said.
Professor of Art Sam Knecht was also impressed with Ahern’s work, saying it showed “a lot of range.”
McNiel’s exhibit largely focuses on photography, with some watercolor painting as well. “Kaitlin McNiel’s photography impresses me a great deal. She offers the viewer poetic fragments,” Knecht said. “McNiel has a gift of vivid imagination and I think her photographs have a lot of mystery.”
Copan contributed the widest range of art to the exhibit, including pieces of photography, graphic design, graphite drawing, pen-and-ink drawing, and a couple of oil paintings. Copan said photography is her “go-to” medium, but she does like experimenting in the other mediums.
“Most of the mediums I’ve explored here I never touched before,” Copan said. “I hadn’t done painting, I hadn’t done sculpture, I did not know how to use a digital camera. So, it’s been really wonderful dabbling in these areas.”
Knecht was most impressed with the photo Copan called “Amanda’s Curtains.”
“It has a magical twilight or early-morning feel to it where the light is very, very soft and poetic,” Knecht said.
Copan believes that her love for art came from her upbringing.
“I have always really loved art. I guess I grew up with art. My mom’s Van Gogh prints were in the house, with Clint, and Monet. I’ve grown up being vaguely surrounded by it,” Copan said.
After college, Ahern is hoping to make art a career.
“I am considering teaching positions as well, but I would love to be immersed in the fine arts long term,” Ahern said.
The Waffle House show concludes tomorrow in Daughtrey Gallery with a reception from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
