For graduating senior Paige Geffen, choosing to major in art was a late decision. She switched from a minor to a major during the spring of her junior year.
“Taking Static Imaging with LM Wood made me realize I wanted to delve deeper into digital art,” Geffen said. “I feel comfortable and at home in my classes because of the community environment within the art department.”
Geffen and her fellow senior art majors recently completed BA and BFA senior thesis exhibitions, which decorated the walls of Elon University’s Arts West gallery at the end of the semester. They are just the most recent expositions to bring imagination and creativity to campus, but the 2011-2012 school year has seen visiting expositions from many established artists.
Geffen’s BA exhibition involved photographs of her female friends in their most private spaces — their beds.
“Stripped of the security of outer garments, they allowed me to capture a certain vulnerability that is often concealed from the public,” Geffen said. “They each wrote a statement based on how they felt while being photographed, which reflected how they feel about their body image. I used the images to create vertical diptychs — a photograph of the participant in her bed, and then the empty bed, with the text in between the two.”
Geffen said the vulnerability of her project made it appealing to viewers.
“The girls who participated in my thesis put it all out there — physically and emotionally — which was really brave,” Geffen said. “I think people connected with the honesty.”
Geffen’s favorite visiting exhibit at the Arts West Gallery this year was Heather Layton's “Ally/Enemy” collaborative drawings, which were shown from Nov. 9-Nov. 22.
“Heather is really passionate about her work and it shows, but she is also humble and down to earth,” Geffen said. “She mentored many of the senior art majors, and her advice was a big help.”
Kelsey Reifler, also a graduating art major, decided to major in art during her freshman year of college. She’s found her experience in the BFA program to be both challenging and rewarding, she said.
“The faculty are beyond amazing,” Reifler said. “Elon is lucky to have the high quality of art professors and instructors that it does.”
Reifler constructed small-scale models of landscapes which she then photographed.
“With my senior thesis, I sought to challenge society's perception of what is ‘real’ through my work,” she said.
Geffen said she particularly admired Reifler and senior Lauren Stellato’s installment, titled “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff.”
“They utilized the gallery space to their advantage, and both of their work was compelling and thought-provoking,” Geffen said. “Lauren's video installation reflected consumerism in a way people can relate to. Kelsey's photographs of models blew me away. I still am in awe that she was able to create realistic representations in a two-dimensional medium from tiny three-dimensional models that she created herself.”
Reifler said she enjoyed “Shifting Ground,” the exhibition by visiting artist Damian Yanessa which ran from Feb. 13 to March 7 in Arts West Gallery. A professor of art at George Washington University, Yanessa examines the modern world through mixed media sculptures.
Senior Caroline Walker created a 44-inch by 62-inch, black and white photographic series for her thesis.
“It focused on the relationship between people and their objects,” Walker said. “I took apart several objects and then photographed them on a mirror. It gave the impression that the objects were extending into space.”
Walker said she enjoyed John Douglas Powers’ exhibit, which included a series of kinetic sculptures, exploring the interaction between motion, sound and physical space. Powers, who has received a Southeastern College Art Conference Individual Artist Fellowship, has had his work exhibited worldwide.
For these seniors, graduation does not mean the end of their artistic endeavors. Reifler plans to move back to New York City and create art and design for social change.
Geffen completed her senior art classes at Elon, but will continue her studies in Copenhagen, Denmark, this fall after spending the summer in Los Angeles.
“As for what I'll do in my career, I'm not sure yet, but I want to have creative say in whatever I do,” Geffen said. “I know that art will always be in my life.”