Every year around this time, Witt seniors pull together all the knowledge they’ve acquired in the four (or more) years they’ve spent here. For some, that means dusting off old theory books and rereading countless pages, but for those majoring in art, it means bringing out their best works and showcasing them. to their entire campus. Sounds scary, doesn’t it? Well for those brave souls who plan to work in the field of the visual arts, this (from my assumptions) is both mind- and nerve-wracking, but well worth it once it’s all said and done.
Now, to be honest, I’m not much of an “art person;” in fact, I’m the person that stands behind that group of people who go on about the emotions the painting brings out and wonders ‘where the heck do they see that.’ But after going to the Senior Thesis Exhibition, I can honestly say that I might have been pulled slightly closer to looking into the world of art.
Seeing as I don’t have that much space to go over every work of art I saw, I decided to pick the three artists I spent the most time admiring throughout the event. The first artist whose work immediately comes to mind is Kelli Harrod. Her works were centered on the idea of “Home Sweet Home,” as one of her paintings read. On the brief synopsis of her work, it explained that her work focused on the belief that “calling a place a home does not usually come from the physical place.” Each select painted showed three historic homes here in Springfield that are no longer inhabited.
One painting in particular that gave me a warm feeling was called “Security” — a brick wall with some sort of opening in it with a candle placed in the middle. I could both feel the heat of the recently blown out candle while also feeling the coolness of the brick wall, which I could imagine made the owner feel safe.
Another artist who caught my attention was Hannah Hunt. Her project was a graphic design that focused on helping its viewers experience synesthesia. The project was most interesting to me because it went outside my realm of understanding for art. To me, art has always been limited to the murals in the Sistine Chapel or anything ever created by Caravaggio, and its soul purpose is to create feeling, not help us understand it. But this was exactly what Hunt’s work did, and it really stuck with me.
The final artist that left an impression on me was Brooke Raymond. Her color pencil drawings were of objects placed in glass jars and cups. At first, I really didn’t think much about them but after reading her explanation of her works, I became more intrigued. Her work focused on the distortion, clarity and other effects caused by the glass. At first, I didn’t even notice it, but after I read those lines, it was clear as daylight and I thought it was cool.
All in all, I really did enjoy looking at each of the artists’ works, and I wish could have discussed them all in great detail; but unfortunately, I can’t. Each of the seniors’ work will still be hung in
Koch Hall, so I suggest that those who have yet to go check them out does before they are taken down.
