By Kelly Waldron
A ‘surge’ of incredible artwork from this year’s seniors leaves the Lore Degenstein Gallery packed at the opening reception.
On Saturday, March 23, artists, family, friends and even Lore Degenstein herself came to see the opening reception for the annual Senior Graphic Design and Studio Art Show.
This year’s show, “Surge,” incorporated some elements reminiscent of the early 2000s. For example, the event included an old camcorder video that recorded the process of how the students put the show together.
The show is entirely student run, so graduating and current graphic design and studio art students met every week since November of last year to put it together, according to Kristina Moncelsi, a senior graphic design major.
“All 11 of us that were a part of the show really stepped up and utilized our diverse skillsets to cater to different needs,” said Moncelsi. “We even stayed over Spring Break working together to paint the walls in the gallery and hang our work to make sure everything looked amazing for opening night!”
The theme of this year’s gallery was about reflecting on the past, but also surging into the future with confidence, said Morgan Hough, a senior studio art and art history double major.
Many seniors agreed with graphic design major Daniella Whippie’s sediment that, “the lab became our home away from home,” and their tight-knit group within the art department would be very hard to say goodbye to.
Despite the bittersweet feeling, students reflected on their best work from the last four years, talked about their career plans, gave out business cards, networked and looked towards their futures.
Assistant professor of graphic design, Amanda Lenig, said that for art students, “this is a bigger night than commencement… this is where all that energy and time pays off.”
And all that work certainly paid off as artists and their family and friends stood by their displays very happy and proud.
“This reception was a really nice way to tie us all together in our work and our passion for what we can create,” said Moncelsi. “It was great to see so much energy in the space that we had worked so hard over the past couple of weeks to curate.”
“Surge” features eight graphic design seniors:; Kiara Shuler, Riley Keefer, Caroline Estey, Tomas Bogoslaw, Kristina Moncelsi, Daniella Whippie, Jayme Underhill and Caleb Ukuni. It also features the work of two studio art majors,; Max Palmer and Morgan Hough, and the work of Marie Gilbert who is a photography major.
Their work will be displayed in the Lore Degenstein Gallery from March 24 to May 5. The gallery is open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
