Ouachita Stories

Ouachita Baptist University’s Department of Art and Design will host seniors Kinzie Schmidt, Miranda Hudleston and Zhanxiu Lu as they showcase their senior art exhibits. At each of these exhibits, admission is free and open to the public. Schmidt’s exhibit will run March 27-April 5; Hudleston’s will run March 26-30; and Lu’s exhibit will run April 3-9.

The senior exhibits are the capstone projects for students planning to gradate with a degree in studio art or graphic design. This project allows students the real-world experience of planning and hanging an exhibit from start to finish.

“Student artists are engaged in critical thinking and production,” said Donnie Copeland, associate professor of Art and Design. “They are asked to develop a cohesive body of work built around an idea or message they aim to convey to an audience. In developing the show, students have to put those messages and ideas into artworks and then consider how and what those artworks are communicating, whether they are effective or in need of change.”

“If you plan to be an artist or designer, you plan to display your work for an audience,” explained Ferris Williams, assistant professor of Art and Design. “Just like a person who only sings in the shower can’t really be called a singer, an artist who doesn’t put their work out for public consumption can’t really call themselves an artist. Audience response is a vital part of any creative act.”

Kinzie Schmidt, a senior graphic design major from Little Rock, Ark., will present her exhibit, “Guess. What.” March 26-30 in Hammons Gallery in Ouachita’s Mabee Fine Arts Center. The majority of Schmidt’s work centers around graphic design, although guests can expect to see paintings, too. The name of Schmidt’s show comes from what she believes to be her most used phrase.

“Based on my tone and inflection, these two words can communicate extreme excitement, frustration, disappointment, embarrassing stories or a simple news update,” Schmidt said. “My graphic design journey has covered a gamut of challenges, personal triumphs and emotions. Similarly, my journey at Ouachita pushed me to further develop in every aspect.”

Schmidt said her work reflects her life and theme because of the bright colors she works with. A reception will be held for the exhibit on March 26 at 6 p.m. in the Hammons Gallery.

Miranda Hudleston, a senior graphic design and mass communications major from Athens, Ala., will present her show, “Simply Complicated,” in the first-floor Rosemary Gossett Adams Gallery in Ouachita’s Moses-Provine Hall March 20-April 5. The majority of Hudleston’s work will be illustrations created with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign to reflect her graphic design major.

“I wanted people to see my progress that I have made since being a part of the art department that I joined sophomore year,” Hudleston said. “I'm not the best artist in the department by far, but I wanted people to see that you don't have to be the best to do something that you enjoy doing. Art is art, and it’s one of the few things in life that allows you to just be yourself and not worry about what other people think of it.”

Hudleston plans to showcase some of her work in such a way that visitors can interact with it. One way she plans to do this is to have one of her drawings printed like a coloring book page. She hopes guests will color in the drawings and hang them up around the exhibit.

“Art is something that I feel that everyone can do,” Hudleston explained. “It is one of the few things in life that has no rules and requires no skills. Sure, some people can take lessons and be better, but true art is something that comes from the soul, and the artist is its biggest critic.”

A closing reception for Hudleston’s exhibit will be held April 4 at 7 p.m. in the first-floor Rosemary Gossett Adams Gallery.

Zhanxiu Lu, a senior studio art and music major from Shaoxing, China, will showcase her senior exhibit, “The Seventh Sense,” April 3-9 in the Hammons Gallery in Mabee Fine Arts Center. Guests will be able to explore some of Lu’s personal experiences and stories in five series of paintings. Lu’s work primarily will showcase her skill with watercolors and digital media. She explained that her show will explore what some people call the seventh sense, the sense of time.

“Everyone feels time differently,” Lu said. “When you are happy, you always feel that ‘time flies’ very fast, but when you are sad, you might feel the time goes by slowly.”

Lu said her show is designed to bring about an understanding of herself, and she hopes it will communicate her understanding to her audience.

“By making my stories and memories into five symbolic series of paintings, I understand myself more,” Lu explained. “I am also better able to expose myself to the world, because I can say what I am unable or afraid to express verbally through the paintings. By sharing my stories and memories with the audience, I will be able to evoke their emotions and feelings, whether they like or dislike, understand or are confused by my artwork.”

A reception will be held for Lu’s exhibit April 6 at 3 p.m. in Hammons Gallery.

Admission to each of these exhibits is free and open to the public. For more information on the exhibits, contact Donnie Copeland at [email protected] or (870) 245-5559.

 

By Katie Smith

March 28, 2018