The Concordian

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This year, Spring Break won’t be fun for everyone. On Monday, March 15, all senior art majors at Concord must submit their art for approval before their senior art exhibition.

This entails going through a jury process in which the art majors formally present their work to all full-time art faculty. The art major will discuss and explain their art and the reasoning behind it, and the faculty will then provide criticism and ask any questions they may have. Then, after the students depart, the faculty discusses each piece and grades it with either a pass or a fail. At least six pieces must pass in order for the major to participate in a show and, consequently, graduate.

“It’s very stressful. Art is odd in the way that you never know exactly how long it’s going to take, and there is never a definite ending to a piece. You just have to know when to quit and move on, before you kill it,” Graphic Design major Andrew Summers said.

A senior show is required for all art majors during their last semester; however, Art Education majors do their show a semester early, as they must complete student teaching their last semester.

The senior exhibitions involve many steps. The artist must create the art, physically put up the show, create advertisements, cater the show, and complete ART 415, a capstone experience class.

According to the art handbook: “Through the creation and display of the Senior Exhibition, the students will demonstrate mastery or the essential skills required to be awarded the Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art, Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design, or Bachelor of Arts in Art Education.”

A show can display any type of art, as long as the artist can defend it and it is proven relevant. However, all works must have a common theme throughout.

The amount of time a student puts into his exhibition varies. “While people may have had ideas since they were freshmen, they generally just spend the semester of working on it. Personally, I just started while I’ve seen other people’s stuff since last semester,” Summers said.

The artists will not know when their shows will be until after their jury session. At this time, the faculty will assign when each show will be and who will be showing with whom, with three to four people to a show.

This semester the art varies from drawing to painting to digital illustrations to light boxes to poster design. Students involved in the shows include: Susan Price, Tiffany Massie, Abram Goff, Natasha Dunbar, Lance McDaniels, and Andrew Summers.

“While, in my opinion, being an art major isn’t particularly difficult, it is unforgivingly demanding and these shows are the culmination of the work we’ve done here. Everyone should come out and take a look,” Summers said.

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