Michaela Woodward – Staff Writer

Next week, while students are hard at work studying for finals in the library, they can take a break to admire work by the senior art majors. As of reading day, pieces from the senior exhibition “Junk Drawers: Odds and Ends,” will be displayed all over the library for visitors and students to peruse as they wrap up the semester. 

Senior Sage Kiefer is especially excited to plan an exhibition in this particular venue. 

“We have so many different works that are kind of coming together right now and being curated to fit the library’s audience. I think it’ll be cool, in this setting specifically, because we already have a natural audience, instead of the typical museum goers. [The audience is] people from all sorts of different backgrounds,” Kiefer said. 

The seniors decided on the library after looking at several other locations, but Senior Hannah Jones enjoys the creative freedom they have been given in this space. 

“We found the library and they’ve been very nice and are pretty much kind of letting us do whatever we want, which is fantastic,” Jones said. 

Finding a venue was not the only struggle putting the show together.

“Most of our seniors are at least double majoring, or even triple majoring. If not, they’re involved in everything else, always around the place. In class we only really have an hour where most likely everybody will be there, but it’s not guaranteed, so planning things is really hard,” Kiefer said. 

“All of us have different schedules, so getting us all in one area for 30 minutes took weeks,” Jones said.

However, the teamwork of this group has been essential to the success of the show. 

“I love the [artist] co-op so much. I think we’re a really great team together. It’s been stressful just to find a venue but I think it worked out exactly as it should have and everyone really brings a lot to the table. This has been the first time that I think any of us has been in an artist co-op. There’s been different challenges that come up with that, but I’d say it’s pretty successful for like the different issues presented. It’s a really cool experience to work together as a community,” Kiefer said. 

This exhibition is a culmination of the work these seniors have done in their Senior Seminar course, but their works showcase pieces they have done previously or are reworking.

“I am also working on a piece that I started last spring that I intended to go in a different exhibition, but it’ll work great here because it’s [a] surreal piece with like fish coming out of the sky. I think it’ll be fun in the children’s section,” Kiefer said. 

Along with more whimsical pieces, Kiefer’s art also focuses on emotions and how they manifest themselves through her artistic style. 

“My recent fascination has been about very strong and intense emotions that are ephemeral and fleeting. Which obviously are particular to my experience but what I’m trying to do in my art is to portray them in a way where they’re like ambiguous enough – so that the viewer can really see themselves or potentially confront something that they’ve not wanted to for a while,” Kiefer said. 

Several of these pieces deal with feelings and experiences that have come along with her senior year, such as anxiety and, in contrast, friendship and community. 

Jones’ work dedicates space to focus on the elements of art through stylistic and engaging portraits and pieces. 

“My work mostly focuses on figure and form. I really like bodies in space and how they use that space and then enhancing their natural figure and movement with specific line work. [I] usually [use] a strong contrast of colors,” Jones said. 

The opening reception for the exhibition will take place on Dec 15 from 5-7 p.m. in the library. 

Anyone sequestered between the shelves finishing up their final papers will be able to find some piece that speaks to them amidst the chaos and stress of finals week.