Students to present artwork in gallery

Photo by: Abby Bellow

Every March, students in the art department at Oklahoma Christian University are given the opportunity to see their work come to life outside of the classroom.

“In high school we didn’t have anything like this before, so it’s kind of new,” freshman Piper Mead said. “… I just did my work for class and then I got picked to be in the show.”

The faculty chooses pieces for the show from the upper-level classes. For the freshmen, the selection process is different – their peers choose which pieces make the show.

“In the freshmen class they do different assignments,” O’Keefe said. “… There’s 53 freshmen, and the 53 freshmen come together and they vote on the five pieces that will go into the show. Then there’s another assignment … and we do the same thing; the students vote on the five best pieces out of the 53.”

Mead related her recollection of the selection process.

“I didn’t really know about the art show until we started doing bigger pieces of work in the semester,” Mead said. “Then individual classes picked out five from the class of maybe 15 or so. Then those went into 15 pieces – so five from each class – and then they pick seven out of that, then they said that whatever was picked out of the seven was to be in the show.”

The show will host artwork from various classes such as Illustration I and II, Form and Communication and Elements of Visual Thinking.

“One was from Form and Communication last semester as a junk project,” junior Lora Arnold said. “You just put a bunch of stuff together from a bunch of junk. Then I have another work that we had to abstract a photograph from a magazine. We had to use dots and lines and black and white to recreate the photo in a new way.”

Mead also spoke about her piece in the show, a multiple self-portrait piece exploring the element of line.

“My [art piece] was chosen and went to the 15,” Mead said. “I didn’t hear back if that was going in the show or not.”

Other types of artwork that will be displayed include pieces from the studio painting classes.

The artwork chosen for the show is enough to cover the walls of the art room. The center of the room will hold pedestals with 3D sculptures and models from the interior design students.

Arnold is passionate about artwork and expressed her appreciation at being able to have her work recognized publicly.

“I feel really special and unique,” Arnold said. “I didn’t know that people would like my artwork because I’ve never done stuff like this before. Most of my stuff’s just been studying books and papers, so it’s just really nice to be recognized for something that I like to do.”

In past years, the art show has had a fair attendance record.

“We’ve usually gotten a nice turnout in the past,” O’Keefe said. “I can’t answer what the case will be this year.”

Many of the art students with work in the show will have the opportunity to see their work on display.

“I’m going to try to be there,” Arnold said. “I might have Spring Sing or practice or something like that, but I’ll try to be there.”

The art show will be held in the Art Gallery of the Garvey Center on Thursday, Feb. 27 and will close March 27 to make way for the senior art exhibit, beginning March 9. The gallery is open on weekdays during work hours and the public can attend for free.

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