Planning, advertising, creating and preparing have gone into the art show on display by four BJU students: Eliott Lovegrove, Antionette Ames, Victoria Fitton and Flor Luccioni. The Senior Student Art Show is currently displayed in exhibition hall of the Sargent Art Building. The show opened March 17 with a warm reception and will remain open until April 10.

“The great thing is that this exhibition prepares them for exhibitions down the road,” said Michelle Radford, a faculty member in the Division of Art and Design. “They’ll go through the steps necessary to do a show in town, or at a gallery in the future.”

The show is a graduation requirement for some art students and has been held annually since the founding of the art major.

The show focuses the last two years of the student’s college experience, making what is on display in exhibition hall a capstone project.

“It really is a culmination of many classes,” Radford said. “They’ve been working towards it.”

One of the seniors, Antionette Ames said each senior show gives underclassmen hope that the hard work pays off and shows the seniors how far they’ve come in four years.

“It challenges us to present ourselves and our work both appropriately and accurately,” Ames said, “It challenges underclassmen to observe, to work hard and to persevere.” 

Students participating in the show must create a piece, whether it be a sculpture or painting, that can be put into the display.

Students choose themes and art types. The participants advertise and collaborate to make the show a success.

“It’s supervised by the faculty, but they are the ones who need to do all those different components,” Radford said. “We are trying to help them find their best work.”

The department advertises the show through posters, social media and Fine Arts email announcements.

All eight to 12 final pieces follow a designated theme for the show.

Ross Shoe, another art faculty member, said the capstone project has a significant bearing on the seniors’ academics.

“Students are graded on professional quality of their presentations,” Show said. “They’re also graded on how prepared they were, and how the art is displayed in the hall.”

Ross said art students become known through exhibitions similar to the current  senior show.

“It shows what it means to put a body of work on display, what it takes to get people to see it,” Ross said.

“From promotion materials all the way down to opening night, it helps the students know what to expect from shows like these in the future.”