Marion Gallery to host exhibition featuring graduating art majors

The second senior art exhibition of the spring semester will feature the work of nine graduating majors from the Department of Visual Arts and New Media.

Titled “&2: Senior Show II,” the exhibition opens in the Cathy and Jesse Marion Art Gallery with a reception from 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday April 27. It will be on display through May 3. The reception and exhibition are free and open to the public.

The Marion Art Gallery is located on the main level of Rockefeller Arts Center on the Fredonia campus, with closest access from the Symphony Circle side of the building.

Participating artists are: Jesse Anna, a Graphic Design major from Buffalo; Jillian Bauer, a Graphic Design major from East Aurora; Carolyne Deitz, an Illustration major from Troy; Marissa Doing, a Graphic Design major from Sherburne; Leanna Harp, a Ceramics major from Fredonia; Amber LaPlante-Dear, a Painting major from Saranac Lake; Karissa Lubberts, a Sculpture major from Rochester, N.Y.; Brittany Sambrook, an Animation major from Lockport and Jessica Tompkins, a Graphic Design major from Buffalo.

Anna created a 17-piece poster series taking the viewer through a point in time relating memories to objects.

Bauer uses her design skills to create metaphors that express seven different types of creative blocks — mental, emotional, bad work habits, personal problems, poverty, overwhelm and communication breakdown.

In her drawings, Deitz experiments with a variety of tattoo styles, such as American Traditional, Neo Traditional, Blackwork, and Realism.

Doing rebrands Gilligan’s, a fast food restaurant in her hometown which features charbroiled burgers and homemade ice cream. The re-brand includes various items such as a sit-down menu, employee t-shirt/visor, silverware wraps, business cards and logo.

In her installation, Harp juxtaposes the permanency of clay and the ephemeral nature of paper by creating book pages out of both materials that represent time.

LaPlante-Dear’s paintings document her memory of the Adirondack Mountains where she was raised.

Lubberts creates small-scale embroideries showing intimate moments with loved ones. She focuses on the direction the thread is sewed in to accurately depict figures and objects in perspective.

Sambrook’s multimedia animation is a tutorial of how to make a vegan crepe. The changes of state reflect the passage of life.

Tompkins designed a headline typeface that can be used in a variety of ways including decorative, playful and experimental displays.

The senior exhibition is intended as a culminating experience for bachelor of fine arts and bachelor of arts students in the Department of Visual Arts and New Media. The students integrate their four-year experience around a coherent body of work or summative project. It is an opportunity for students from various studio areas to collaborate and bring together their creative work within a critical forum.

“&2: Senior Show II” is supported by the Department of Visual Arts and New Media, the Fredonia College Foundation’s Cathy and Jesse Marion Endowment Fund and Friends of Rockefeller Arts Center.

Gallery hours are: Tuesday through Thursday, noon to 4 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, noon to 6 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. The gallery is closed on Mondays. For more information or a group tour of the exhibition, contact Gallery Director Barbara Räcker at 716-673-4897 or via email.