Seniors speak from the art at spring exhibit

Shippensburg University’s art and design faculty hosted the second spring senior art exhibit on Saturday, April 6, which featured six student artists who presented their artwork in the Kauffman Gallery.

Sharon Coons displayed a three-panel drawing of a scenic forest view called “Into the Woods.” Coons used her favorite mediums, ink and colored pencils, when creating the masterpiece.

“Much of what my drawings are inspired by are different things in nature that I really appreciate,” Coons said.

She wanted to take viewers into the woods to show what all the woods have to offer and those creatures that are supported by the forest.

Using chalk and pastel, Kayla Harley created a nostalgic feeling among her pieces.

“I wanted to make places that aren’t entirely real but are all real to someone,” Harley said.

Harley has more artwork displayed in the Brindle Gallery that is available to view until Thursday, April 18. Each piece enables the viewer to be taken to a nostalgic place because of the bright colors used and tones.

One student’s great love for animals was reflected in their artwork. Quinlynn Harper exhibited five pieces — two bunnies, two cats and one dog. The animals are of her past and present pets. The unique part of her digital illustrations were the mirrors as the animals’ eyes and the decoration moss used to act as fur.

Kia O’Quinn had interactive fiber art pieces. Objects placed inside each crocheted artwork added a variety of sounds such as bells, maracas, cringle paper, squeaker toys, etc. Throughout the exhibit, viewers were seen shaking her work to hear what was inside.

Taking inspiration from baroque paintings, Jessica Silverman created engravings to show the lack of diversity seen in the French-styled art. Silverman added tattoos and different body types to the engraving to help represent diversity.

Aidan Swank focused on the “connections with color and human relations.” Swank shared that he has difficulties in expressing his emotions sometimes, but it comes out through his artwork.

His time spent in the studio was really him throwing wet acrylic paint at the canvas and making different shapes. Swank encouraged the audience to get close to his artwork, because you can see all the layers that went into them.

The exhibit closed on Friday, April 12, but it will be available to view online on April 29. The 46th annual juried student art exhibit will be on April 27, where judges outside of the community will select student winners.