Creations by Keene State seniors lined the walls of the Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery for the opening reception of the annual Art & Design Show at 4 p.m. on Friday, April 12.
According to the Art & Design Department’s Instagram page, the show featured “the cumulative work from this year’s graduating class of BA and BFA students.” Works across both studio art and graphic design from about 20 student artists can be seen in the exhibit, which will remain on display until the end of the spring semester on May 3.
Art & Design Professor Paul McMullan, who also serves as faculty coordinator at the gallery, explained the reception heralded the arrival of two exhibits.
“There’s [an exhibit] by a painter named Keith Mills from Virginia,” McMullan said. “We went to undergraduate school together in 1980, and he’s been painting ever since.”
The two opened a t-shirt printing business together, which Mills would go on to run for decades, according to McMullan.
Mills’ exhibit, titled “Liminal… The Paintings of Keith Mills,” will remain alongside the Art & Design Show for the duration of the semester.
McMullan said set-up for this year’s show was a smooth process compared to other years.
“You get stressed out, because you’ve got two weeks,” McMullan said. “We have to take a show down and then put this show up … trying to make it flow together, giving enough space between the pieces.”
Art & Design Professor Randall Hoyt stressed the importance of a capstone deadline for students to complete their work.
“The significance of having a capstone experience is it’s something we work towards that begins and ends,” Hoyt said. “If we didn’t have one, who knows what would get done? That’s the significance of the event, and to showcase it to everybody. It brings everyone together because they want to see what we do.”
“It’s a relief,” said featured senior artist Rachel Boudreau. “It’s been a very long semester, [and] especially a longer few weeks, but … I’m just really happy that it’s all done and I’m proud of what I got to put on the wall.”
Boudreau, a dual BFA in Studio Art and Graphic Design, said the first step in setting up for the show was getting her studio work into the gallery, followed by setting up some of her design work as small items for guests at her table to take with them.
Featured senior artist Emma Whitehead described the relief as not only emotional but also physical.
“The ceramics I do are really hard on my body and it’s great to not have to do that anymore,” Whitehead said. “But then also seeing everyone around … the prominent feeling, I would say, is joy.”
Liam McGuire, another featured artist, said he felt good and described the space as a good work environment to be in.
“You don’t know what’s going to come out of this, but you know that you’re going to give 100% of what you got towards it and you just see what happens,” McGuire said. “It’s a fun experience.”
Charlotte King can be contacted at
cking@kscequinox.com
