Senior art and design students from Trinity Western University open their grad art exhibit today (Tuesday, March 27) on campus.
The exhibition, called Coalesce, features eight artists who have weaved together narratives, both personal and universal, to explore themes of embodiment, speculation, and memory.
“The Art + Design program at TWU allowed me the freedom to explore many different types of art mediums,” said Bailey Snider, who hails from Walla Walla, WA.
“The wide variety of classes gave me the opportunity to try things I never saw myself doing. It was challenging and rewarding,” she added.
Snider’s senior project includes large-scale tapestries, focused on narrative and storytelling.
“The act of creating is a contemplative process,” she said. “It feels like a prayer during the creation of a piece. It’s a time when I feel closest to my faith.”
A mixed-media exhibition, Coalesce represents the culmination of several bodies of student created work, which have been altered and refined throughout these students’ education.
Though each tale is as unique as the artist who tells it, the stories enmesh to create ongoing engagement with culture and our inner selves, said the art and design student.
This mixed-media exhibition features her work, as well as that of fellow TWU’s graduating students Emily Arnett, Jacquelyn Miller, Kiersten Sawchuk, Hannah Stover, Cassie Thorpe, Rachel Voth, and Sarah Wright.
The students hope to share in a dialogue exploring what it means to be human – and to revel in the collective uncertainty that goes with it, Snider explained.
“It’s amazing to see each artist’s progression right before our eyes as we create,” she said.
“This exhibition is a celebration of all we’ve learned and accomplished in our art education.”
The Coalese exhibit is on display in the TWU SAMC Gallery, at the Alloway Library until April 29.
