Guns. Pills. Alcohol.
For senior Kaitlin Stober, using controversial subject matter is the best way to evoke emotional responses from her audience.
Stober will be presenting a series of still-life oil paintings. She hopes to display multiple realities and diverse perceptions through her work by focusing on windows.
“I use windows as the canvas for my work because of the visual benefits inherent in the reflective yet transparent glass surface as well as the rich symbolism surrounding windows,” Stober said.
Students striving for the bachelor of arts and bachelor of fine arts worked through the final stretch for their thesis exhibition, an end of the year show of their art-making endeavors.
Ann Kaplan, assistant professor of art, has been preparing for this show with seniors in her seminar capstone course for the past semester.
“I think what’s really captivating about this year’s group is that they’re really deeply exploring divergent and multiplicitious realities,” Kaplan said.
The thesis exhibition runs May 1-19 and will feature multiple works from different students in Kaplan’s class. There will be a variety of media ranging from paintings to digital print to drawings to large-scale film featured to showcase each artist’s thesis.
Senior Sarah Wasko wants to inspire personal contemplation from the audience of the exhibition. For her piece, Wasko masked her face with turquoise glitter and had photos taken.
“Children’s art usually depicts a hyperbolized version of our world,” Wasko said. “I have masked myself in children’s art materials to allude to this masking and hyperbolizing of different parts of ourselves.”
Wasko looks at popular social media platforms as a contemporary mask of sorts.
“We are constantly hiding some aspects of ourselves while playing up others, whether we are aware of it or not,” she said. “Think Facebook, Instagram — everything we do.”
Her thesis impacted her a lot more than she originally anticipated.
“It has made me question a lot about my own identity, how I choose to present myself and what devices I use to do so,” Wasko said. “The work is pretty bizarre, but so are we. And that’s kind of the point.”
Desmond Harrell’s thesis examines Beyonce in a religious context. He wanted to show the direct connection between power and race, especially in such a highly regarded figure.
“My piece includes a collage of images printed on canvas,” Harrell said. “The background, which was inspired by traditional African kente cloth, not only serves as the background but it encompasses Beyonce, creating space and depth within my piece.”
Originally, Harrell worked with smaller scale images, but has since transitioned into ones of a larger scale. He decided to switch to larger images because of the overwhelming feelings his exposition gave him and to strive for a larger impact.
“What I hope to achieve with this piece is to put in perspective calling people like Beyonce ‘Queen Bey’ or LeBron James ‘King James,’” Harrell said.
Kaplan believes the students’ work is interesting, dynamic and colorful.
Although there are minor differences between BAs and BFAs, students in both disciplines worked diligently to complete their projects.
“The BFA is designed to be more of a pre-professional program, while the BA allows greater flexibility for interdisciplinary work,” said Michael Fels, associate professor of art and chair of the department of art and art history.
The exhibition will be in Gallery 406 in the Arts West building. Artists featured in the exhibition will present brief statements explaining their theses at a reception beginning at 5:30 p.m. May 1.