Some people never stop learning, but for Shippensburg University art professors, they never stop creating.

The annual Art and Design Faculty Exhibition opened in the Kauffman Gallery in the Huber Art Center on Sept. 30 and will remain open until Oct. 24.

Michael Campbell, director for the art exhibit and an SU professor, equated each professor’s artwork to the research paper for a scientist.

“I think the students want to know we practice what we preach. They want to see we’re growing as artists,” Campbell said.

This year’s exhibition showcases six professors’ work that includes intricate ceramic bowls and jars, a series of water color paintings the size of a deck of cards, brightly colored acrylic paintings, oil paintings, abstract and realistic photographs, human-sized sculptures and a display performance that can be watched on a video clip.

Comparing the Art and Design Faculty Exhibition from previous years, senior Philip Byers said that the biggest difference is seeing how his professors’ work has changed. Byers and senior Shayna Jansen circled the room slowly, examining a brightly colored painting of a mythical bird and then photographs of sharp red fading into faint yellow.

Byers said that in the exhibit he can see everything that his professors teach in the classroom and it reinforces the idea that the information they are passing along is important.

“What [our professors] are saying works because it’s coming from a place of success … Maybe I will reach this level of success if I approach it the same way,” Byers said.

Senior Tom Kehl said that he can see some of the things that his professors teach in the classroom, but that there is a difference in the mediums that they use in class versus their own work.

“They really explore what their main medium is,” Kehl said.

Kehl said that he is still exploring who he is as an artist by “finding his eyes” to direct him where to look for his niche.

Young artists often begin art with a specific plan, Campbell said, but they have to learn to be flexible and let the art change unexpectedly.

“What I tell students is if your work is not evolving, you’re done, you’re finished,” Campbell said. “As artists, we’re never satisfied. We’re always looking for the next epiphany of insight.”

Byers and Jansen both said Campbell teaches students that art is a journey, not a destination.

“I hope whatever comes next I still get to make art because there’s so much to learn,” is what Campbell tells them in class, Byers said. 

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