McKayla Cunningham, Olivia Gibson and Josiah Phelps are presenting their Senior Exhibitions through Oct. 27.
Cunningham’s, a Studio Art major from Rockford, Illinois, show is titled “Double Exposure” and focuses on showcasing different types of bodies and creating body positivity.
“We as women are perfect the way we are and need to learn to embrace our insecurities to have a better way of thinking about ourselves and be body positive,” Cunningham said in her artist statement.
Her show is made up of graphite drawings and oil paintings. She was interested in using these mediums to represent the contrasting attributes of the human figure, focusing on a person’s specific physical flaw and showcases it in a different aspect.
After graduation, Cunningham
Gibson is a Studio Artist from Trenton. Her show is titled “Obfuscated” and focuses on the human consciousness.
Gibson used oil paintings and charcoal to represent control and chaos in her pieces, depicting many different emotions in her work.
“[The artist] wanted to be able to come back to these pieces at any given time and continue to evolve them into something new from where they started, and to further the ideas behind them,” said Gibson in her artist statement.
She took inspiration from artists such as Emilio Villalba to create abstract pieces which are different from her realistic style.
Phelps is a Visual and Performing Arts major and Studio Arts major from Jackson. His show is titled “Inspire” and is dedicated to the important people in his life who have helped him in his journey.
“I want people to understand the important people in their life, the people who are helping shape and [mold] them into the person they [aspire] to be,” Phelps said. “People might not think about it right now, but I want my show to make them stop and think, ‘wait a minute, who do I have in my life that is like that?'”
Phelps used background colors to represent the subjects’ aura and painted the portraits in black and white to show that it does not matter what color you are.
Phelps’ preferred medium is charcoal, but he chose to use acrylic paint in his exhibition to showcase what he has learned while attending UTM.
After graduation, Phelps will move to Seattle for a paid internship and hopes to eventually attend grad school to get his master’s in Art History.
Your face seems kind” by Olivia Gibson. | Pacer Photo/Emily Wilson, “I Love You So” by Josiah Phelps. | Pacer Photo/Emily Wilson, “HOLD YOURSELF TO A STANDARD OF GRACE NOT PERFECTION” by McKayla Cunningham. | Pacer Photo/ Emily Wilson
