The Senior Art Exhibit opening reception took place Saturday at the Kauffman Gallery in Huber Arts Center. 

The gallery featured senior art and design majors Heather Barley, Kimberly Braet, Cameron Conroy, Kaitlyn Durff, Mariana Espinosa, Sarah Lieberman, Carlos Mora-Fallas and Alexis Woodring. Each artist was given the chance to speak about their work that they had shown.

Braet displayed a remarkable performance piece called “Cleanse.” The audience watched as Braet picked up a white pitcher and poured red liquid into a bowl placed beside her. She soaked a white towel in the red liquid and began wiping it all over her skin and white dress. Braet later spoke about the performance. 

“I love the red and white contrast.” Braet said. She told the audience her primary focus was to represent “trauma, abuse and violence.” 

Other seniors, such as Espinosa and Durff, wanted to bring attention to the environment and real-world social issues. Durff used secondhand recycled material in her artwork to show that “nature can reclaim itself.” 

The audience could be heard giving “oohs” and “aahs” when carefully observing the many pieces. Some of those expressions were directed towards the oil paintings “Columbia” and “Bermuda” that were presented by Conroy. Both paintings were of places he has been: “Columbia” of his hometown and “Bermuda” of a picture he took on vacation with his family. 

“They represent more of a broad scale of human life. We often overlook detail,” Conroy said. 

Graphic design major Lieberman uses her creativity as her motivation to create artwork. She had on display pictures of mini scenes and mini replicas that each had gravely intricate detail.

“There is an emotion and story into each piece if you look close enough to each one,” Lieberman said. 

She discovered at a young age that art was her passion. Audience members often got close to her pieces to detect the detail placed into her unique tiny art.

“To me, this is how I feel happy and makes me feel like a free spirit,” Woodring said during her presentation of her astonishing digital photography. Her photos consisted of a nature theme that the audience was receptive to.

Mora-Fallas’ pieces were “aimed to understand the relationship that space has on us.” His goal was to capture how the space around us affects us.

All the artists put in plenty of effort and took extensive time to create their variety of works. The Senior Art Exhibit will be open until April 7 and available online April 17, 2023 – March 1, 2024.

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