After spring break, the class of 2020 in EMU’s Visual and Communication Arts department were just beginning to plan their senior art show. This particular show was anticipated to have a packed house in the Margaret Martin Gehman Art Gallery, featuring a wide range of art pieces to display. Unfortunately, the excitement and expectations took a dramatic shift once students were informed that the remainder of the semester would be online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
At this time, whether or not the show would go on was lost in the midst of the unknown. Following several discussions with the students and art professor Cyndi Gusler, it was decided to proceed with a virtual art gallery opening. Even though the show was continuing, the student artists had to modify their ideas and art pieces for this event in a short amount of time. Having only a digital view made things even more challenging for those who were originally working on sculptors, prints, and frescos.
VACA seniors Emily Young and Kiana Childress were responsible for creating the entire online site that these artworks will be displayed on and making sure everything looks up to par; however, each of the nine student artists made contributions. This overall process seemed to be exciting yet difficult for most, but worth it in the end by awarding these seniors with a positive ending to their college career.
“As you can understand, our senior art show did not go as planned,” said Young. “When we were told that we were to move to an online format, I volunteered to build the website that our work would be displayed on. It was both a fun and challenging project because we had a very short amount of time to get it completed. Although the show is not displayed how we originally envisioned it, I am very proud of our website and the work displayed on it.”
The Senior Art Gallery Opening goes live on Friday, April 24 and will be available to view until May 3. The link of this show can be found at emuseniorshow2020.com.
Featured artists: Bryan Luna, Emily Young, Kiana Childress, Mandy Puffenbarger, Nik Tucker, Raviv Monahan, Stephanie Gilbertson, Stephen Sheppard, & Sultan Alsulaiman.
