BFA seniors display capstone works
In room 209 of the Fine Arts Visual building, the artists have put together what they refer to as the Frida Kahlo Lounge. It’s a space in the studio with couches, artworks and a portrait of Kahlo herself. This was a comfortable space for Klint Johnson, a senior in the department of painting and drawing.
Johnson held up the poster he helped design for this year’s annual Bachelor of Fine Arts Capstone Exhibit — a gallery created by the 12 BFA seniors to highlight their artworks. Each student in the program volunteered for a role to help make the show a reality, and Johnson was on the public relations and poster design team.
The poster read, “A Collision of Forms,” which was this year’s gallery theme. According to Johnson, the concept was meant to be open-ended to allow all artists’ work to fit together cohesively.
“Everyone would be comfortable sharing their own mark that they like to make,” Johnson said.
The poster featured a small framed portrait of a doodle of a person.
“I think we all kind of empathize with him,” Klint said about the doodle. “Artists see every mistake throughout the whole process. So the show feels like a big moment, but we don’t feel grand, just like the guy in the frame.”
Johnson’s work leans towards the human figure, specifically the male body. He credits this to their block-like shapes and how easy it is to hide a mistake by adding a beard.
For Johnson, identifying with the guy in the frame is very literal. The artwork he displayed was a self-portrait titled, “This is the place.”
Beyond just aesthetics, Johnson said it’s important to have a deeper meaning to artworks.
“What are you trying to communicate? Is there something going on internally that you want to kind of share?” Johnson said. “Is there something going on in the world that you want to extrapolate or conceptualize?”
Senior painting and drawing student Sarah Bonzo has similar ideas when it comes to creating her artwork.
Focusing on oil paintings, Bonzo creates what she described as documented-style paintings.
“I like to do a lot of interior spaces and paint what I see. I find interesting compositions within that — and you kind of see a presence of a person without seeing the person in that sense,” Bonzo said.
Bonzo said she hoped her works would be nostalgic and thought-proving to viewers, allowing them to slow down and reflect.
Bonzo’s job for the exhibition was distribution — getting word out about the show.
Other roles to prepare for the exhibition included organizing refreshments or making sure frames are hung exactly 28 inches apart — which is just the type of very important and specific detail that artists notice, according to Johnson.
The experience of being in a gallery is very important to the students, especially for those that have artistic ambitions.
“That’s what most of us are working towards — to hopefully be working artists and really get our work out there,” Bonzo said.
Part of that experience includes how shows work, and how the process of getting into an exhibit works, according to Bonzo and Johnson.
Department head Kathy Puzey said this year’s exhibit featured different disciplines, including photography, ceramics, print-making, art education and sculptors.
“The work in the exhibition represents a culmination of refined skills, ideas and perspectives that took students several years to develop and master,” Puzey said over email.
According to Bonzo, diversity of perspectives is one of the many highlights of a gallery experience.
“It’s beneficial to see art shows, because a lot of the time we’re not getting that exposure to different things,” Bonzo said. “It’s good to get other experiences and see what people have to offer besides what you’re used to.”