Senior Exhibits 2019

Thank you is a body of work that focuses on my mother’s perseverance in spite of the trials and tribulations she faced as a single parent. It is a series of five large-scale assemblages that combine photographs and found materials that express my mother’s unique life experiences and personality. It is also a communication of my sincere reverence for what she overcame in raising a family by herself.
More broadly, this series is a broader look into the cultural phenomenon of single motherhood. This universal topic became a lens through which I could consider the struggles, support and love a mother like mine has given me. Each piece is composed of materials that aren’t considered to be art materials and few that are. While creating this series I used found objects from home along with handwritten words of affirmation to produce a meaningful assemblage comprised of objects, words and images. As a young child I found an outlet in art. I found a sense of freedom of expression and sense of belonging. My mother has always encouraged me in all that I have been led to do in life including pursuing my love for art. I want to convey themes such as struggle, perseverance, and love. Growing up I learned to appreciate discarded materials and the “make something out of nothing” ethic. It helped me to see everyday materials as art materials. The way you can take a piece of material that was intend3dfor a use outside of art and turn it into something new really excites me. Though the recycling of found objects and creating art out of nothing. The discarded materials also are given a new purpose. I ant viewers to see these works as something they can relate to. I want to express myself through a reflection of my past and present experiences with my mother. I want others to see beauty in the discarded and abandoned materials.

Tough

For most of my art career, various aspects of the ocean have inspired and motivated me, which I portray through ceramic sculptural forms. We are currently faced with a massive water pollution problem and I want to use this as a platform to not only educate others, but offer insight as well. The ocean is being consumed by trash every day and unwanted objects are strangling the many plants and animals that call the ocean home. One big issue that the ocean is faced with is the bleaching of the coral reef, due to things such as oil spills, overfishing, and pollution from trash. I want to portray this imagery by creating different aspects of ocean life with clay by having pieces of trash intertwine with my sculptures, reflecting the pollution take over. I achieve this by forming slabs with clay and rolling them into a tube form. I then use a tool with a pointed end to stipple the surface. I have researched several types of coral in the ocean and chose different types that I decided would be most suitable for conveying my idea. These species don’t have a voice and I believe that by having these creatures viewed in this restrained way, it will offer awareness for this matter.

CC BY 3.0 Attribution

Extinction

“Sight for the Sightless” focuses on my brother, Gabe, who has been blind since birth. Everyday, I grew up witnessing how he interacts differently with the world due to the loss of such an important sense. Without this sense, his other senses have been magnified and that is evident in everything he does. I believe that his loss of sight should not limit him or others to interact with art. Instead, it should propel the artist to push boundaries and create art for more than one audience.
I have always used photography to express my feelings and it has occurred to me that Gabe cannot see and experience the feelings or emotions I have captured. In this exhibition, the images are captured in a way that visually represents Gabe and his everyday environment. While growing up with Gabe, I have seen how his everyday environment is different because he has had to adapt to aspects of life in alternative ways. Braille is a language that I do not need, but for Gabe, it has allowed him to understand what he cannot see. The braille is a description made by Gabe of what he was feeling or experiencing in the image. I chose to incorporate the application of braille to the photographs so he could understand the emotions that the image is portraying. The decision to photograph with a 35mm film camera was because of the aesthetic that the photos capture. There is no English description of the braille because I wanted to create an even playing field for the viewers who cannot see and the viewers who can see the feeling. This gives the viewers who can see an idea of what it is like to not to understand a photograph just like someone who can not see a photograph. This exhibition gives a fair chance to viewers with sight or without sight to understand the same image even though they are experiencing it differently.
As humans, I strongly believe that we take for granted the sense of sight, and I wish to examine the idea that maybe we do not need sight to see or feel. Gabe can not see these photographs but, by reading the braille, he can remember the feeling in the moment, therefore he is understanding the photograph like those with sight do. Artist have the ability to create and express emotions through alternative methods and the absence of any sense should not limit what can be experienced.

Yia Yia

I was adopted into a healthy, God-loving family when I was just two days old. Growing up, I struggled with feeling accepted into my family because I was simply &ldquo;different&rdquo; than they were. When I was 15, and again when I was 18, I lost both my Brother Kyle and my Sister Alyssa to cancer. Two of my most trusted and accepting best-friends were now gone, leaving me with this burdensome load of loneliness and depression.
Then, after talking to a small-group leader at my Church, he was able to introduce the Gospel to me and the beautiful fact that the Lord sent his Son Jesus to die a perfect death in place of my sins so that I can be together with him, forever. It was there where the Lord called me into His Kingdom and I felt my chains being slowly but surely broken.
For years I struggled with carrying the weight of loss, depression, anxiety, acceptance, and loneliness. By understanding and believing in the willing and wholesome sacrificial Love that God gave me, He was able to take hold of my chains and shatter them, bringing me into a Loving relationship with Him.
-Landon
I believe that in this life we can all agree on one thing: we all go through struggles and pain, such as heartbreak, loss, and rejection, that leave us hoping for peace in our life. As a photographer, I am highly influenced by my own experiences and my faith. Due to circumstances in my life, I&rsquo;ve wrestled with depression and anxiety and it left me feeling empty and alone. Then, I discovered Christ and my faith in him gave me peace and allowed me to be joyful in those circumstances. I have found photography to be a creative tool to share about the incomparable hope I have.
Incomparable Hopeis a film photography series that describes the lives of three individuals and how they each discovered hope. I created three photographs per person to describe their journey in life from going through trials to being free from them. Light is a key component within my work and I applied it to this series to symbolize the progression of hope within each person&rsquo;s life. The darkest image is symbolic of their struggles and the lightest is symbolic of the freedom they experience. The middle image shares the moment they discovered their hope. Finally, I asked each person to write a short testimony of their story so that the viewer can first reflect on the images and then read directly from the individual. My goal is to share each person&rsquo;s story as truthfully as possible using my tool as a photographer.
My decision to create my senior show with film photography became apparent after my first film class. Today, digital photography is widespread and an effective tool, but I have found film to have an intimacy that can&rsquo;t be obtained through a digital lens. It intrigues me to watch a blank piece of paper come to life with an image I made in the darkroom. I love getting to use my hands to make edits on my image. I take pleasure knowing that a part of me is actually viewable in my work. The hours in the quiet darkroom also give me time to reflect and enjoy a peaceful moment while creating my work.
My desire with this series is to share the hope these few individuals have found through the struggles they experienced. In return, I ask the viewer not to look at these experiences as unique, but to reflect on their own and to question, &ldquo;Have I found hope in my life?&rdquo; I advise them not to leave without thinking deeply about the trials in their life. Each of these people have a story to tell and they all end in this hope they have put their trust in. With this series, I want to encourage the viewer to know that they are not alone in their suffering and hope is there to be found.

Chains Shattered

Water Chakra: Deals with Pleasure. Blocked by Guilt.
I enjoy the process of drawing. It has become a form of meditation for me. Each stroke I make is like a breath of fresh air. When I am producing a piece, there is a raw connection between my mind and the lines that I choose to put down. My personal meditation practice connects directly to my work. By focusing on one’s mental state through meditation, I believe personal well-being improves. As a result, spirituality is a prominent theme in this series. I aim to intrigue the individual by evoking a unique feeling or broadening their mind through abstract thought.
The chakra structure is a concept in which there are seven spiritual and emotional points within the body. Every point is opened through mental focus and self-reflection.I have abstracted my approach to the chakra structure, evoking a unique response from each viewer. The release of negative emotions is achieved through the development of each chakra and culminates with reaching one’s spiritual enlightenment. The complexity of the themes complements the intricate nature of my drawings. Digital painting is my preferred medium because of the ability to layer and incorporate effects. I use bright and intense colors, through overlap of the lines, to represent beams of light. This enhances the connection between the figure and the background within every composition. The singular color of the backgrounds, along with the line work, are what develop the emotional energy of each piece.
The technique and style of my recent work is a combination of realism and abstract drawing. I would say that I developed my technique by contemplating the feelings which relax me the most. I populate my drawings with patterns that drag the viewer’s eye across the page to view the intricate detail. I also use a combination of overlap, shading, and contour lines to display dimensionality. With this body of work, I aim to blur the line between the human spirit and the body. I demonstrate that life surrounds us in different forms of emotional energy.
Mental contemplation and meditation are the overall themes in my current artistic work. By using my drawing skills in combination with digital art, I aim to share a contemporary interpretation of the human chakra structure. I want others to view spiritual connectivity in a visually intricate manner. Life surrounds us with energy in different forms and we can make changes to improve our individual well-being.

Water Chakra

A fusion of contemporary art and technology lives through me and flows, ink on a blank canvas. I create works with bits of myself hidden within and giving soul to the faces of my creations. The face of a company, with the marks of a hapless, tired soul woven like thread through the images. Sharp colors and angles, strewn with subtle imperfection; the straight line of a computer, and the shaky hand of a person that lives guarding a thread of hope within their heart lives together here. <a>[1]</a>
I want to instill a sense of playfulness, intensity, whatever the mood is that I desire to pull through the threads of the human psyche. Works that appeal to the human emotion have always been the most important to me, and this is something that shows in almost all of the things that I make. Creators are architects to the emotion. This is my most powerful belief.
Some may believe that designing a graphic leaves less to the imagination than a painting, but both are wrought from the heart of the artist, carrying their style and their soul. To an extent, a piece of the creator is left behind in each work. It is a personal journey, to recall the emotions you felt while building something, to finally see it in its entirety.
I come from a simple upbringing, where my ideas were encouraged, bizarre or unconventional as they may be. I was raised to see the beauty in everything, be it something in nature, or something made by human hand. Beauty can be found in any small space, if you go looking for it.

Leviathan

As a graphic designer, I strive to generate the most unique and thought-provoking designs. When I see marketing designs in my daily routine, I am inspired to create my own version of them with a hidden, deeper message. My art needs to have more than just the visual aspect for me to be satisfied with it. From logos to entire marketing campaigns, I create depth by using subtle clues to allude to the deeper message I communicate to my viewers.
In my senior exhibition, I created a graphic design campaign to inform the public on how major corporations can influence their consumers through branding and marketing. I showed this by creating a mock company called One-Self, which is a company that offers to make a clone of yourself. My graphic design campaign consisted of a website and posters that had typical brand manipulation aspects. As a conclusion to my show, I created a manual on how to avoid brand manipulation in a real-life setting. With combining these two works, I hope to encourage my viewers to pay attention to their consumer habits in my series One-Self.
I am hyper-aware of the marketing around me and how it is presented. This ability helps me create more effective designs for the public because I imitate influential design techniques in my own work. I am a keen observer of the art world and communicative objects. These observations help me with my creative process by giving me a foundation for my designs. For example, when creating a logo, I start with the overall message the company is trying to convey. Then I will do extensive research to gather ideas about how the logo will be formatted. I create my logos with subconscious themes or imagery (for example, I used two identical “O’s” in my One-Self company logo to represent my theme of cloning). Research is key in every project because my work is, figuratively, two-layered. On the first layer, there is the design itself with key visual elements that link to the overall idea of the company. On the second layer, I have subtle subliminal hints of a deeper meaning to the company. I hope to broaden my viewer's minds by using this influential technique.
One-Self is my way of expressing my interpretation of how graphic design is used to influence its consumer. My concept is achieved by creating an intriguing company concept and informative manual. With my subliminal techniques, I hope by my exhibit empowers the viewer to look at marketing and branding with a more conscientious mindset.

One-Self Manual

Beacons of Light is a body of work that focuses on the city of Atlanta. This includes expressing the dynamism of the urban environment, its celebratory settings and the eye-candy of its colors, textures and overall aesthetic. It is a series of nine large-scale double exposure color prints representing my home city through my eyes. I chose to photograph Atlanta to show the beauty of its nightlife as well as the memories that I hold of each place that is documented.
I have always been inspired to do film photography. My father did a series on Las Vegas neon signs, and this has always inspired me to photograph many of the neon signs back home. I used my father’s Hasselblad camera to further indicate his influence on my work. This portfolio is a combination of dreamy, nostalgic, and timeless photographs. There is a cinematic feel in some of the photographs that represents the commemorating of childhood achievements, dance recitals, getting my first job, birthdays, and holidays. All of these special events from my life were celebrations; usually commemorated with a drive down Ponce de Leon Avenue. This is where the many vivid neon signs were reflected off the windows of the other passing cars as we made our journey to whichever restaurant my parents were going to surprise us with. There was always a feeling of excitement as the destination’s big bright sign appeared in our windshield. I want to show the liveliness of the city. When you look at these photographs, I want you to think back to a time you were celebrating something special. I want you to think of where that place was and how special and vibrant it was.
My medium for this series is medium format film photography. I am also using a digital program to create a double exposure effect. This imbues the images with a surrealistic quality and a nostalgic feel. I chose to do nine photographs, consisting of three still-lives, three portraits, and three landscapes. I did this to show different attitudes and impressions I sense in each place. I am photographing at twilight, so the neon signs are very vibrant on the dark background.
This series communicates the unique vision I have in my mind’s eye when I think of Atlanta and the memories each place holds. Growing up in the city has given me a different perspective and now I am able to share that with my viewers. The energy of Atlanta is shown through the dazzling colors of each photograph. The nostalgic feel is created by the double exposures. Lastly, the symbolic similarity is presented by the use of my father’s Hasselblad camera. Beacons of Light is a portfolio that focuses on the celebratory memories of my life since early childhood.

SOS Tiki Bar

CC BY 4.0 Attribution

Muscari

Veins

When I was six my father was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. This disease is not dramatic, it doesn’t immediately upend a person’s life. However as the years go by it takes more and more of the human body and spirit. While most people are aware of the physical disabilating effects MS has, they are less aware of the psychological. Watching my father suffer from MS was like always having some dark force on the edge of my vision that I couldn’t grasp or fight off. And growing up I always wanted to do or make something that would provide him with happiness, even if only for a moment.
Despite what my family thinks, I get my love of learning and creativity from my father. My earliest memories are of him reading both fiction and nonfiction books to me. That wanting to know more and to think critically about the things around me, lead me to build entire fantasy worlds within my head. And although I am older now, and don’t have the opportunity to read as much as I use to I still like to imagine stories to help cope with the stresses of everyday life. Usually my ideas for stories are sparked when I am driving and listening to music. The song will have a phrase that conveys a feeling or an idea that lingers in the back of my mind until it becomes a fully formed character that I then build up a world for.
My story is about a grim reaper having to protect a child of satan from demons and monsters. Growing up in a Catholic household I was fascinated by the mythology of the Christian religion. As a child I imagined fighting demons and monsters while playing with my toys. I chose to illustrate my story because I am inspired by comic book artists like Frank Miller and Kohei Horikoshi to not just think of a world, but to build it using drawings. I rely heavily upon knowing how to foreshorten the body limbs, using lines to create a flow of movement, and dramatic uses of tone to set a mood. Also the need to craft compelling dialogue is necessary to connect my readers to my characters. The story, while having a good deal of action, will focus on being driven by characters and their interactions. Because at the core, this story is about battling my deepest fears and the fears of many people amongst my generation. Fear of an unknown future, of past failures, and the constant feeling of never being good enough.
The materials I select for my work are the computer, however I always start with the tried and true pencil and paper. I will sketch the setting and characters with pencil on bristol paper, then add pen for basic outlines and cross hatching, and finally I will scan the pieces in and add tone using digital painting in Photoshop. After I am satisfied with how it looks I will print it out several times while adjusting the levels of darks and lights to get the best quality print.

The Book of Diane Cover

The Main Characters

The Reapers

Earth Chakra: Deals with Survival. Blocked by Fear
I enjoy the process of drawing. It has become a form of meditation for me. Each stroke I make is like a breath of fresh air. When I am producing a piece, there is a raw connection between my mind and the lines that I choose to put down. My personal meditation practice connects directly to my work. By focusing on one’s mental state through meditation, I believe personal well-being improves. As a result, spirituality is a prominent theme in this series. I aim to intrigue the individual by evoking a unique feeling or broadening their mind through abstract thought.
The chakra structure is a concept in which there are seven spiritual and emotional points within the body. Every point is opened through mental focus and self-reflection.I have abstracted my approach to the chakra structure, evoking a unique response from each viewer. The release of negative emotions is achieved through the development of each chakra and culminates with reaching one’s spiritual enlightenment. The complexity of the themes complements the intricate nature of my drawings. Digital painting is my preferred medium because of the ability to layer and incorporate effects. I use bright and intense colors, through overlap of the lines, to represent beams of light. This enhances the connection between the figure and the background within every composition. The singular color of the backgrounds, along with the line work, are what develop the emotional energy of each piece.
The technique and style of my recent work is a combination of realism and abstract drawing. I would say that I developed my technique by contemplating the feelings which relax me the most. I populate my drawings with patterns that drag the viewer’s eye across the page to view the intricate detail. I also use a combination of overlap, shading, and contour lines to display dimensionality. With this body of work, I aim to blur the line between the human spirit and the body. I demonstrate that life surrounds us in different forms of emotional energy.
Mental contemplation and meditation are the overall themes in my current artistic work. By using my drawing skills in combination with digital art, I aim to share a contemporary interpretation of the human chakra structure. I want others to view spiritual connectivity in a visually intricate manner. Life surrounds us with energy in different forms and we can make changes to improve our individual well-being.

Earth Chakra

The Demons

Rising Sun

As a child, when I visited my grandparents, I remember walking through their front door and being welcomed by the array of family photographs. They were mementos that spanned decades on display to be admired, eventually leading my eye to the sight of my grandfather sitting in his recliner by the window. He was always observing the world and taking note of everything happening around him, whether it was with his own eyes, by taking photographs, or recording home videos with his VHS camera. At the time, I was too young to understand why he was so focused on documenting life, but I learned later on that he was collecting memories to help him recall later. 
As an artist, my work often reflects upon the idea of collecting. I do this through the mediums graphic design and photography, with the intention of visually telling a story. I am interested in exploring personal history, struggles, emotions, and relationships. I strive to develop bodies of work that create a perspective and a voice of their own. In my senior show I’m Still Here, I created a series of five digital collages and three bound books that both aim to express the themes of dementia, memory, and loss. This work is expressing these themes from the perspective of my grandfather and how that has affected not only him but my family as well. My intention is that these works can give the viewer insight on the afflictions of dementia through his voice – like him, my collages show the selflessness he exhibited his entire life by focusing on the service to his country and the raising of his family. Due to this disease, he lost his voice and self-expression, thus re-living these memories through my work is an eye-opener. 
I enjoy the process of developing collages, as it is both very complex and satisfying in manipulating imagery to convey a specific message. My grandfather was a carpenter for over fifty years, so I constructed each collage by using wood grain textures as a base. I began taking found imagery like photographs, postcards, and medical illustrations and assembled them in a way that evoked how our cells make up the basic structure in our brain. I digitally altered the images with pixilation, blur, and abstract brushstrokes to emulate the loss of memory. I overlaid handwritten quotes to reveal relationships my grandfather established with each of his children; these quotes invite viewers to witness how this disease impacts families. Through my bound books, I invite the viewers to briefly learn more about dementia and my own family’s story that goes along with the diagnosis of dementia. 
There needs to be a better understanding of this disease. Individuals suffering from dementia should not be ignored. I created this series to celebrate my grandfather’s life, but also provide a coping mechanism for my family, myself. And I also hope to raise awareness and to encourage the viewers to cherish their memories and the people they love while they still have the chance.

Cynthia

James

Francis I

Francis II

Keri

Bonded

Biology is one of my most intense fascinations, and it has been since I was a child. As I got older, my passion for art grew and overlapped with my love for biology. Biology, however, is unforgiving, unknowing, and does not care about the lives it describes through its clinical methodologies. I learned this fact through personal experience. My mother, my best friend, my mentor, and my inspiration was diagnosed with Stage III brain cancer. The day I discovered this was the way that I declared an internal war with the unfeeling calculations of science.
Doctors dedicate their life to studying this emotionless science. They must look at cases from a stoic, guarded standpoint. They can talk to us like we’re ignorant of any fancy terms or the true meanings of the terms that describe her situation. Art is inherently emotional. As a practice, it is made to make the viewer feel something. It communicates in a way that sometimes the most terrifying or meaningful of words cannot. There has always been an interesting relationship between the two disciplines, and many believe they cannot interact since they are so inherently different. Together, though, they can communicate a message not easily described with fancy terms. Together they create a new understanding of the analytical and creative.
I use Plexiglass in this series to tie into my title: Did You See It Coming? The viewer sees through the glass but is obstructed by the body parts. The pieces spin independent of each other, so the viewer can have some semblance of control over the human body. I depict each image representationally with narratives written on the back. These narratives are to show my personal connection with the pieces as well as some of the scientific jargon used to describe the medical condition my mother is battling. I use colored pencil and graphite for the simple reason that it creates a gorgeous representation of reality. My goal is to show the viewer parts of their own body they might not often think of and to force them to think about their bodies in different ways. I choose body parts that are affected by various diseases, and I show them in different states of healthiness or decay.
Through drawing different body parts, their medical properties, and their stages of deterioration, I have found some semblance of control and understanding. Through the stories I have written on the backs of these artworks, I have found a way to communicate my thoughts and feelings while refraining from breaking down every time I think about her. If I can control how the body is shown on paper, then maybe I can find a way to control my strength and composure towards my mother. Maybe I can find a way to honor what she is going through. Maybe, just maybe, I can find a way to stop it.

Eyes

I knew from the beginning that I was meant to take charge. I have always been comfortable with stepping up, standing out, and even being misunderstood because of my assertive personality. My parents watched me turn from a bossy young girl into a woman with strong leadership skills and a highly creative mind. While I am very outgoing, I am surprisingly a proud introvert. I find satisfaction in art because it is a way of communicating that takes place in a solitary process that is protective and refreshing. I want my art to be refreshing and inspiring for the viewer. My artworks aren’t weighed down with heavy meaning, but are meant for taking delight in. 
I am inspired by women who work, lead, and influence. My show is a celebration of women who do so in society. Amongst my digital paintings are women who have inspired me to step onto the field, run for that position, and take the reins of my career as a graphic designer. People like Jackie Kennedy who are strong yet elegant and chic, and people like Serena Williams who are bold yet graceful. All the women I chose turn the clichéd phrase “Like a Girl” into an empowering message for young women. 
I am influenced particularly by American painter Alex Katz, who simplifies his portraits by using large blocks of color. I aim to also formally simplify my work without loading my images with politics, race, or debate. Teil Duncan, an American painter has also influenced me to explore the subject matter of women and their style, while painting both with sparing detail. 
My four years in college have been a defining time of who I am as a woman and a leader. Between being an athlete, serving on campus, and holding multiple leadership positions, I revealed a Macy that I didn’t know existed. I have developed a confidence that is through the roof, a competitive edge like no other, and a desire to live my life as far away from my comfort zone as possible. I hope that my paintings will spark a flame in you to become the best version of yourself. I also hope to make you feel motivated to work towards your personal goals, even the ones that seem bold, crazy, and out of reach.

Meghan

This world is overwhelmingly beautiful. The Earth is full of charm and adventure that bring out this child-like wonder in each of us. Think back to a moment in your life where the beauty of this world brought you to tears. In those moments, you tend to feel like a smaller piece in a grand design. Painting landscapes renews this experience in me, and allows me to see my own life in a larger perspective. Each piece in my show, Journey, intends to recreate that occurrence in my audience using three distinct locations that display creation in different lights.
Every animation was constructed together through the use of Photoshop and After Effects. Just as life takes on a long means of shaping who we are, the creation process took months of building. The original concepts for each landscape began as simple sketches in a notebook. When the ideas were solidified, I painted the scenes in Photoshop to begin. In order to animate, I had to create each piece as its own layer. This allows me to design the illusion that my pieces are in a 3D environment. I worked on the base paintings until the details became life-like. Then, I spent the rest of my time importing the layers into After Effects to bring these simple images to life with animation. This process symbolizes a fragment of the underlying theme in Journey.
I compare Journey often to the phrase “stop and smell the roses”. What does this mean? To truly enjoy the rose, you have to focus on it, and bring the rose to the front of our awareness. To smell the rose, you have to get close and linger around. When we do this, we find ourselves not only delighting in the rose, but loving it. This simple act leaves behind an impression that, if done right, can significantly change the quality of our entire life. When this idea is applied to creation, we start to see life as this long journey full of deeper, richer joy and love. Yet, even the most beautiful place cannot satisfy this deep desire in the core of our beings. Even though there is so much wonder and beauty, it almost seems to be pointing at some deeper truth.
Journey’s purpose is to explore this idea. It aims to awaken those common feelings of how wonderful this world is. Yet, with all the sunsets, all the art, and all of creation, I find that these cannot satisfy as the meaning of life. As a Christian, I see creation playing its intended part in the grand design. God means for us to be stunned and awed by his handiwork, but not for its own sake. He means for us to look at His creation and ask, if the mere work of His fingers is so full of wisdom, power, grandeur, majesty, and beauty, what must this God be like in Himself? He alone is the soul’s end. In one large act of symbolism, my piece did exactly what it was intended to do. Art and creation are meant to point to its creator. As scattered solar beams tell us that there is a sun, this journey of life shows us that deeper meaning behind the beauty.
“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”
C.S. Lewis

Forest

To me, the word “good” means selflessness, honesty, hope, kindness, honor, and humility. As I’ve grown, I’ve integrated this concept of good into my digital photography as my way of serving others, and as a means to appreciate the life I’ve been given. Broadly speaking, I hope that my artistic journey captures the beauty of those I photograph and gives others a sense of overwhelming love for who they are and the life they live. More broadly, this work is about expressing every human being’s struggle with morality and the choices they make.
There is a war being waged within us all. Every day we choose to fall into darkness, or take joy in the light. Darkness feels cold, desperate, lost, void, and hopeless. Light feels warm, spirited, passionate, and lively. I aim to draw attention to this internal war. Some of those whom I photograph are comfortable in the dark, hiding away from the light. Some crave the sweetness of hope and the warmth of the light, as they try to break free from the shackles of darkness. Some are basking in the light and only desire to share this light with others. I’m creating art that expressing my every-present search for the light. I believe the nature of warmth, spirit, and passion take their root in Jesus. This art revolves around the experiences of Christians who fight for the truth, and fall short. But because they can experience grace, and redemption through Jesus, the battle is not lost when they fall.
Photography is the study of light. I feel there is no better medium than photography to explore not only the physical quality of light, but also the concept of light as a social, emotional, and spiritual experience. In this series of photographs I am using the progression of darkness to light like a grey scale to show the physical change that happens in a person when on this inward journey for light. I use natural light predominantly, but occasionally utilize studio light to create thought provoking scenes that accentuate the individual’s state of mind. The photograph explores how the subject is interacting with the amount of light they have in the frame. The physical representation of how the person is interacting with the light is a metaphor for how the person is dealing with the light inwardly. 
Seek Light, Be light is a show about the relentless search for light within those who believe in Jesus Christ. It is about the reality of living in a world of sin and choosing to believe in truth instead. My hope is that anyone who sees this show will be able to resonate with some part of it regardless of personal beliefs. Because, after all, there is a war waging within us all, and it should be known that none of us need to feel alone in this battle.

City

Ocean

As a graphic designer, I strive to generate the most unique and thought-provoking designs. When I see marketing designs in my daily routine, I am inspired to create my own version of them with a hidden, deeper message. My art needs to have more than just the visual aspect for me to be satisfied with it. From logos to entire marketing campaigns, I create depth by using subtle clues to allude to the deeper message I communicate to my viewers. In my senior exhibition, I created a graphic design campaign to inform the public on how major corporations can influence their consumers through branding and marketing. I showed this by creating a mock company called One-Self, which is a company that offers to make a clone of yourself. My graphic design campaign consisted of a website and posters that had typical brand manipulation aspects. As a conclusion to my show, I created a manual on how to avoid brand manipulation in a real-life setting. With combining these two works, I hope to encourage my viewers to pay attention to their consumer habits in my series One-Self. I am hyper-aware of the marketing around me and how it is presented. This ability helps me create more effective designs for the public because I imitate influential design techniques in my own work. I am a keen observer of the art world and communicative objects. These observations help me with my creative process by giving me a foundation for my designs. For example, when creating a logo, I start with the overall message the company is trying to convey. Then I will do extensive research to gather ideas about how the logo will be formatted. I create my logos with subconscious themes or imagery (for example, I used two identical “O’s” in my One-Self company logo to represent my theme of cloning). Research is key in every project because my work is, figuratively, two-layered. On the first layer, there is the design itself with key visual elements that link to the overall idea of the company. On the second layer, I have subtle subliminal hints of a deeper meaning to the company. I hope to broaden my viewer's minds by using this influential technique.
One-Self is my way of expressing my interpretation of how graphic design is used to influence its consumer. My concept is achieved by creating an intriguing company concept and informative manual. With my subliminal techniques, I hope by my exhibit empowers the viewer to look at marketing and branding with a more conscientious mindset.

One-Self Poster #1

One-Self Poster #2

One-Self Website

Mouth

I want my work to encourage others to start a healthy conversation about the impacts of mental illness on our society today. By illustrating my personal experience with anxiety and depression in “Faced with Anxiety,” I show others that they are not alone in this battle with mental illness. As an artist, my anxiety has been heightened at times, but it has also given me the opportunity to use my art to speak to others who are also impacted by mental illness.
I work with materials that could be deemed atypical in parts of the fine art world. I choose to do this in my artwork because my concepts and imagery could also be deemed atypical. The found materials I use in my paintings have a story of their own which adds to the importance of their presence in the artwork. My artwork can portray a sense of familiarity in the imagery I have painted as well as in the commonly found materials incorporated in my art.
“Faced with Anxiety,” is one of my more personal works where I illustrate an issue I battle with every day. In my other artwork I choose to explore topics that society often forgets about and neglects to talk about. My previous work is often inspired by science where I represent the beauty found and forgotten within this world. I also enjoy the exploration in the world of portraiture where I can capture a person’s story or emotion in my artwork. This show is the combination of both, the exploration of portraits as well as my determination to create conversation be introducing important scientific information. I have challenged myself with this series as it is my first time painting myself into the work.
This show is very important to me; however, I hope it is just as impactful on my viewer. I encourage others to have the confidence to speak out and talk about their personal struggles with mental health. “Faced with Anxiety,” has pushed me mentally as well as artistically. I truly get to showcase the skills I have gained as a student at the University of North Georgia. Many are facing a battle with mental illness. I choose to remember the bad moments as I represent these emotions in this series. For these low moments are the reason I have to keep going as an artist, student, young adult, and human.

Isolation

Fear

Frida

Frustration

Spine

Jackie

Left Leg

Kacey

Right Leg

Gigi

Serena

Growing up I wasn’t introduced to art until I was in high school, and even then it was made out as a joke. My family was not one to go to art museums, because they did not know anything about art. Once I got into college, I found my love for art. Ever since then art has become my escape. It helps me deal with my anxiety.
Ever since my dad came into my life at the age of five, I have not had much of a relationship with him. This is because he allowed his wife and mother-in-law to mentally, emotionally, and verbally abuse me. Because of them I have had many issues with my self-worth. This is the premise of my show. I want to show how words said to a person effects them on the inside even if their outside does not show the effect.
My wheel thrown pieces are aesthetically pleasing and look functional, but they are all, in fact, non-functional on the inside. They either have a hole or a non-food safe texture glaze. These pieces each have a word of hate on the outside that has been said to me at some point in my life. To contrast those pieces, I have hand-built pieces that mirror the wheel thrown. The difference is that the hand-built pieces have words of love or encouragement that have been said to me at some point in my life. These pieces have a raw and organic look on the outside and a beautiful blue glaze on the inside.
Through my work I am hoping to show people what has made me into the person I am today, and why I continue to work on myself daily. I hope my show “Love Me or Hate Me” can give insight into what words can do to someone’s mental health, and how it can affect them in the long run.

Love Me or Hate Me

Think about the relationship you have with nature. Do you immerse yourself within it as much as possible or maybe avoid it at all costs? Humans have a delicate balance with nature. There is a push and pull between us with humans destroying the planet at an alarming rate and nature destroying us through things like natural disasters. With this body of work, I want to show different relationships people have with nature, some being negative towards it and others being positive. Each one of my pieces combine the imagery of humans and nature in a way that expresses these relationships. Whatever your relationship is with the world we live in; it is impossible for us to live without it. We have been destroying this earth even more with the rise of new technologies. Things like virtual reality can give us a sense of being amongst nature without actually being immersed within it. This has been leading us away from nature, but with these pieces I would like to create a reaction in the viewers of appreciation of the natural world. I want to convey the natural beauty of the world we live in before we completely destroy it.
In making these cyanotypes, I would photograph models in the studio as well as collect and scan various foliage, combining the two to create a digital negative. For the cyanotype process itself, I first had to mix the two basic chemicals to make the chemistry that is used. After 24 hours I was able to coat the paper under safety lights. Once the paper had dried, I could expose the paper with the negative compressed in a contact frame under UV light. The photograph then was washed in a water bath with a small amount of hydrogen peroxide to increase contrast in the image and then hung to dry. 
I chose this alternative process of photography because it causes you to slow down and requires you to really know and understand what it is you are doing. I sometimes get tired of this digital age and prefer hands on old photographic techniques and processes. Everyone nowadays thinks they are a photographer with camera phones in their pockets, which is what makes old processes like these even more special and unique. I also chose this process as it relates to the concept of the work since it requires sunlight to create the image. It is a very hands-on process as I coat the paper myself allowing for an interaction with the artist and the physical work. The concept of each person having different and unique relationships with nature also parallels the process as each of these photographs are unique and would be near impossible to replicate exactly.
I chose to photograph only women to symbolize the nurturing care of mother nature being a female personification of nature. Each piece of the work is titled with a word that describes the feeling that someone may have with nature. In looking at this work, I would like to show the viewer the true beauty of nature and how vital it is for our lives before we destroy it completely beyond repair. The viewers should reflect upon themselves and think about the relationship they have with nature, and if they do not have a true appreciation for the earth that they may have a newfound admiration for it.

Hidden

Comfort

Happiness is the most important thing in life. More so than having high art pieces in museums I want to put a smile on someone’s face. Art is not just a painting hung on a wall or a sculpture in a rich person’s house. Art is in the songs about love playing on the radio all day, your favorite piece of clothing, and the coffee mug you gave a loved one for a gift. Art is consumed in little reminders of the memories that we share with one another every day. 
My whole life I have been surrounded by art. My father a photographer, grandfather a musician, and many other family members working in this industry. From a young age, I spent much time at a studio watching artists create, goof off, and spread their passion with one another. Being surrounded by this environment taught me to find a passion and work for myself. As long as you try hard and have talent you have the ability to obtain whatever career goals you wish. 
My work is a sampling of some of the hand-built pottery and woven pieces that I have learned to create throughout my time in college. I chose to get a degree in Art Marketing with a concentration in Ceramics. Using the tools I have gained in college I hope to create my own successful business and social media presence in order to sell my art work. I have been selling my products on both Etsy and in local markets throughout the last year and a half in order to support myself throughout college and plan on continuing after. 
All of the pieces in my show are available for sale on my Etsy page. Simply scan the QR code below and you will be redirected to my sight where you can purchase, look at all of the items, share with friends, and find more details about shipping!
Thank you all so much for coming to my senior show, I hope you enjoy!

Cotton and Clay Company

Evoke is based on my reconnecting with familial roots and processing the passing of my mother and father. My mother lost her fight against COPD and emphysema in 2017. My father succumbed to lung cancer in 2018. In this ceramic work, I to experientially engage in what I consider to be the remainder of the grieving process. Growing up I can fondly remember swimming at our favorite spot, Poole's Mill covered bridge; playing bocce and walking the beach collecting shells; and my mom singing one of her favorite songs by Fleetwood Mac, Songbird. In this work, the ceramic lungs represent a juxtaposition of my existential concerns and memories of my parents.
The individual, hand-built pieces on exterior of the slip-cast lungs are smooth to the touch and remind me of the objects that I used to collect near the covered bridge or on the beach. As a whole, the lungs are fragile organs. The lungs must be nurtured and cared for by their user to remain in optimal condition. The same can be said of individuals and the relationships they foster with others. There is always the possibility that a tragedy could strike at any moment and obliterate even the healthiest of lungs. Simply dropping the porcelain lungs would shatter them into fragments. The silhouettes that are inside the lungs exist as the memory. The slip-cast lungs hold these silhouettes and with light, meaning life, passing through them and projects these images. The hand-built pieces outside of the lungs are tangible objects that bring me to recollect times spent with my parents. The sense of touch generates memories that are far more complex and long-lasting. Surface treatment on the lungs are coated with a clear glaze that form cracks underneath the surface. This is significant to my memories as it signifies not being able to make new memories with my mother and father.
Grief is a natural, normal, and vital response to death. It is made up of many different emotions ranging from sadness to anger to guilt and everything in-between. Adjusting to loss is a lengthy process and is unique to each and every person. To help process my final step of grief, acceptance, I have used ceramics to portray times spent with my parents and memories that will last forever.
My goal as a ceramic artist is to communicate my vision through the strength of the form and the characteristics of the pieces. Slip-cast and hand-built ceramic sculptures take the form of objects from nature that reflect place, environment, and time with memories of my parents.

Evoke

With storybook characters being used to shape children’s realities, fiction has always been an important part of growing up. Whether it be kindness, bravery, intelligence, or style, there are many ways a favorite character can shape us, and in our widely connected world, there are more characters than ever for people to grow up with. In Become What You Love, I use costume and photography explore the influence of fiction on myself & challenge you to do the same.

Some of my earliest memories are opening Burger King Pokémon toys and playing Mario Kart with my cousin. An interest in television and games followed me into adulthood where I began cosplaying. Cosplay is a hobby about making and wearing costumes of your favorite characters. The hobby is both fun and fascinating because it made me realize how ingrained fictional characters are into our lives and how important it is to us that they feel real. Companies like Disney are especially aware of this since meeting and even dining with costumed characters is a big draw of visiting their theme parks.

I combined my interest in cosplay with my photography concentration to create self-portraits in costume. The characters I chose to emulate are ones important to me, however I strive for the photos to be something anyone can appreciate.

First, I picked Dawn who is the protagonist of Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum which are video games from 2006. Pokémon is something I’ve loved my whole life, but for a long time it was seen as something for boys. Dawn helped me appreciate femininity since her cute pink clothes were different from other Pokémon protagonists’ and showed me that I could like a game people thought was for boys and still be girly. I also vividly remember being excited for these games’ release and staring at their map imagining the new places I would explore. In this photo set, I showcase the many places you can visit in Pokémon by having a different environment for each photo.

Next I chose Princess Serenity from Sailor Moon. I watched Sailor Moon when I was 14 and loved its message of beauty and inner strength. Characters like Princess Serenity who are elegant and graceful, yet powerful, made me want to become an eloquent person. In the story, Serenity is the princess of the Moon Kingdom who falls in love with the prince of Earth. I chose an ethereal garden setting for my photos to reference the beautiful plants Serenity loves the Earth for.

My final character is Phosophyllite from Land of the Lustrous which is a graphic novel I am currently reading. The story is about humanoid gems and deals with being broken, repaired, and dealing with loss. At this point, Phosophyllite is trapped by their own decisions which is something I wanted to reflect in my photos. I also adapted symbolism from the graphic novel like butterflies representing the departed and Phos’ gold arms melting when they are stressed. I feel that Phosophyllite’s story encapsulates growing up and being filled with self-doubt and uncertainty.

Throughout our lives, we experience countless stories, but some leave lasting impressions. I hope that my photography has inspired you to remember them!

[1.5] Library

Through my project, I strive to bring imagination and ideas to life through storytelling. I have done this by taking my 2D childhood sketches and making them come to life through 3D form. The act of telling a story and introducing my story to the world will let the viewer endlessly explore the imaginative possibilities that I have created within my work. It will let the viewer into my imaginative space so that the viewer can be the creator, using their imagination endlessly to imagine what it would be like inside of my theme park.
“If you can dream it, you can do it.” – Walt Disney.
This is a quote I live by every day of my life. Walt Disney is my biggest art influence. His work in storytelling and imagination has inspired all of my work. When I was eight years old, I watched a show called, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. There, I got inspired to draw up ideas for a rollercoaster. Over a couple years, I added more and more to my project. Eventually, it escaped the forefront of my mind, but the idea still lingered. 
All my life, my parents brought me to the happiest place on earth. In fact, many of my most precious memories were made at Disney; togetherness, family, love, excitement, fun, and laughter. I feel that these experiences have shaped the person I have become. My personality tends to reflect the optimistic, determined side of things where I believe you can achieve your dreams. Spring 2018 my dream of working for Disney came true. I got accepted into the Disney College Program as a PhotoPass Photographer. There I learned all about the company, their beliefs, and driving forces as a company. I desired to become an Imagineer. I networked with as many people as possible while on the program. In fact, once I explained what I wanted to do, one person told me that I could never do it unless I was a design engineer. That statement motivated me to create my project. Even though it was discouraging to hear, I wasn’t discouraged, I was determined to make it happen.
Last fall in my 3D Modeling and Printing Class, I decided to revisit the idea to see if I could model my concept. It wasn’t a class assignment, but I insisted on creating it. Many people asked me why I was still working on it, and how was I going to execute it if I wasn’t an engineer? I put many hours into teaching myself how to realize my vision. December 2018, I finally had it modeled in Blender, a 3D software. I wanted to print one section of it last year, but it never worked out. The next semester, I took Advanced 3D Modeling and Printing, with the goal in mind to print my piece. I worked all Spring to figure out how to model the cart, how to create the poles to be functional, how to make the track, and more importantly, how the cart would roll and function. It took me the full semester to create these pieces. When I thought I had it completed, one piece wouldn’t fit, so I’d have to start over again. It was lots of trial, error, and frustration, but I was still determined to print my piece. The last week of class, I finally got it rolling at the correct scale. Over the summer, I began splicing the big parts into sections and printing the pieces. I loved watching my vision come to life as I picked up each piece and started putting it all together. 
I want to encourage everyone to use their imagination and follow their dreams because after all, “if you can dream it, you CAN DO IT.” Whether it be art, science, business, music, or whatever your passion is, I want to encourage you to never give up, because if you’re passionate enough about something, it’ll happen. I want to leave you with a piece of advice that one of my teachers left with me, “Everyone has a dream. Let’s say the island is your dream and there is the ocean between you and your dream. Many people will walk to the edge of the water, look out, turn around, and never jump in. Don’t be the person that turns away, be the person to dive into the water and go after you dream!”

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Attribution NonCommercial-NoDerivs

[1] Clubhouse Coaster Poster

[1.7] Princess Serenity

All my life I have used books and images of other fantasy worlds as a form of escape. When I wasn’t playing sports or lifting weights, I was reading about different worlds and attempting to create my own. For me, this escape into a new world was the one way out of my small town where everything was the same every day. Growing up I spent most of my time in rural middle Georgia where the closest neighbors were peach trees and the closest city was over 25 minutes away. Even when I did live closer to the city there was still a disconnect between me and those around me. It always felt like everyone was content to be where they were, living an endless loop, but that was never good enough for me. If there was more to our world just like there was in these fantasy worlds, then I wanted to see it. So, I started writing. I wrote about things I thought would be cool, adventurous lifestyles, and places I would love to see. Eventually, my written stories began to take life through amateur drawings and paintings. Now during my time in college, my stories have inspired a lot of my projects and work. Therefore, I knew my senior exhibition had to also reflect my narrative nature and desire to escape into a new world.
When I first came up with the idea for this project, it was just a random thought I quickly jotted down. However, as time passed and I came closer to presenting my senior exhibition idea, this thought jumped off the page of my notebook and stood out above all the others. So, I marked the page and began my research on how I would start this project. When it came to deciding on the concept and the composition as a whole, I found myself being drawn into the idea of creating a whole new world like J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth. With this in mind, I decided that to understand the shape of the physical form of my project, I had to know the other landforms around it, so I created a map. Then to understand the details within the terrain, I wanted to know what kind of people or creatures would live here and how their culture and habits would affect the land. So I developed this idea and came up with the name “Kutora” by looking up the word “escape” in multiple languages and then melding them together to form a speech pattern that sounded appealing and slightly rustic. I also decided to split “Kutora” as a country divided into two opposites side of politics and magic ideals that can be simply described as the use of natural vs mechanic. However, I am a believer in things not being so black and white and while this physical piece is based on the natural side of the country, I wanted to show signs of life through mechanical-based evidence like the twisted pipes running through it. Despite all these seemingly unnecessary details for creating this physical form, by going through this process, it has allowed me to understand what this landscape should look like and the details it should have within.
 Overall, Tolkien and his stories have been a huge influence for this work and many of my other projects. This past year I have taken every chance I could to reference his Middle Earth in some way in my projects and if I wasn’t able to, I would create my own narrative within my work to achieve this. Tolkien’s idea of creating a world that is familiar as Earth but with just enough of a twist to make it magical. Through doing it this way, Tolkien created a connection with the viewer or reader by creating his world as a reflection on the places he had been both growing up and during his time at war. It was my intention to have this landscape reflect the places I have seen and enjoyed similarly as Tolkien did. I also intend for this project to grow past this physical form, perhaps as a series, a book, or maybe something else entirely. Only God knows where this road will go, and time will tell as I travel.

[2]Kutora Image

[2.2] Tranquillitatis

[2.4] Phosophyllite

[2.6] Agate

In a world full of diverse cultures, life experiences, and tragedy, children often fall through the cracks. You Are My Flower is a short children’s picture book about a little Hawaiian girl scouting for flowers to give to her mother after an unknown tragedy. You will find that it addresses the deaf community, the single mother, belonging, and most of all love. 
As adults, often times we forget what it meant, looked, and felt like to be a child over time. Through vibrant illustrations, I convey the impact parents can potentially have on their daughters as they begin to discover the meaning of beauty, strength, and belonging. The book is also about what it means to be loved and to be more than enough. My hope is that this story can bring you and your children together as they learn a little about the Hawaiian culture, the power of love, and the bonds of family.

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Tough