Artwork by 10 graduating seniors of Mississippi University for Women will be showcased at the Eugenia Summer Gallery on campus through Saturday, May 7.
An opening reception, which is free and open to the public, will be held tonight from 5:30-7 p.m. The seniors will present brief lectures about their work, beginning at 4 p.m. in the auditorium of the Art and Design Building.
The senior art exhibition is a requirement for all graduates of the bachelor of fine arts program at MUW. Each graduating senior must prepare and give an artist talk in which they present various works of art to describe their personal aesthetic as an artist.
Artists include Louisiana native Tanya Ardoin, mother of two, a former Air Force sergeant and six-year cancer survivor; Michael Booth of Amory, a 2006 graduate of Caledonia High School and a longtime musician; Commercial Dispatch intern Akki Brathwaite, who was born in England and raised in Japan; and Misty Hinton of Iuka, an avid cake decorator.
Featured seniors also include Illinois native Jarrett Kerpan, who received a 2009 associate”s degree in arts from Itawamba Community College; Candise Padden, originally of Arizona, and a graduate of Caledonia High School; and Delaware native Luisa Porter, a graduate of the Jim Henson School of Art and Design in Maryland and a freelance and commercial photographer for The Commercial Dispatch and Catfish Alley magazine.
Also exhibiting their work will be Jackson native Lynn Robertson, a wife and mother, and graduate of Tupelo High School; Columbus High graduate Derek Slaughter, who was the official graphic designer of the 2011 Mississippi Collegiate Art Competition; and Christina Stark of West Point, a 2006 West Point High graduate.
Brathwaite, Kerpan, Slaughter and Stark are members of Kappa Pi International Honorary Art Fraternity: Rho Chapter.
All of the seniors, with exception of Hinton, Porter and Robertson will receive degrees with an emphasis in graphic design. Hinton”s emphasis is in studio arts. Both Porter and Robertson will receive degrees in studio arts with an emphasis in photography.
The Department of Art and Design at MUW offers the BFA with an emphasis in art education, ceramics, graphic design, photography, printmaking and studio arts.
The Eugenia Summer Gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday and is located on the southwest corner of the MUW campus, directly east of the Stark Recreation Center.
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