Story by Editor-in-Chief Zach Avery

The art department’s graduating BFA students have come together to deliver one final show that celebrates each of their individual talents, interests and identities. This exhibition remains open at the Art & Music Center all-month long, and all attributions in this story come from each student’s corresponding artist statement.

Of the space’s 54 original art pieces, 16 belong to Ashley Postema, a BFA student specializing in the technique of classical painters who would layer on transparent paint to build up complex colors with varying opacity.

“The use of layers, visually, can allude to the passage of time,” Postema said. “In this way, my paintings seek reconciliation with the past, present and future.”

Not all participants share this same medium, however. Finding inspiration from both Paleolithic and Hellenistic sculptural artwork, Sophie Winks practices a craft as old as human history: Ceramics.

“This art form is ancient,” Winks said. “Humans have been creating with clay long before they created the written word.”

Winks’ pieces are designed to age and decay organically, returning to the source of its base ingredients after many, many years. Being placed in your garden or yard would make these pieces feel right at home.

Much of Ezra Faust’s work is collected into a corner of varied portraits, each with their own character, color and form. His statue series, constructed with stoneware clay and accents of gold leaf, shares similarly diverse personalities and attitudes.

“These statues allowed me to learn the process of molding and casting larger ceramic pieces,” Faust said. “[They] allow me to free my mind and imagine a world of my own.”

On the opposite gallery wall, graphite portraits by Danae Wilson demonstrate a clear passion for photorealism and objectivity. Wilson aspires to create quite literally whatever she is perceiving, from facial features to wrinkles in clothing, and it is remarkable to see up close.

Finally, Beth Mateskon’s “Art of Walking” series, which includes her paintings and participatory mandalas, brings her gallery entries under one unifying theme: the movement and sensation of walking.

“It is as present in a single step as it is in a hike up the Appalachian trail,” Mateskon said. “It happens without critique, without anxiety and without distraction.”

Each featured artist brings a unique voice to this exhibition quite unlike anything we’ve seen at the AMC thus far. This is one art show you do not want to miss.