Seven senior art students from Minot State University will host their capstone exhibit, titled “AMALGAM,” to mark the culmination of their studies. The show will begin with a public reception and online viewing at the Northwest Arts Center on Friday at 6:30 p.m. and will run through June 10.
Capstone is the culminating experience for art majors, allowing them to apply what they learned while at Minot State. In Capstone, seniors produce an exhibition, portfolio, article, or project that showcases original and innovative work that showcases their abilities as professional artists and designers. The show will feature an amalgamation of student art in their areas of interest.
Alex Jimenez’s exhibition, “Abstraction”, explores the abstraction of human portraiture and figure photography to create his own sci-fi inspired imagery. Jimenez offers larger than life prints of his abstraction of photography.
“I have always been fascinated by the creation of characters. I discovered through digital manipulation that I could obscure and redesign portrait photos of various people I had photographed, and thus, remake them into beings of my own imagination, said Jimenez.
Agata Mrozik has created 30×40 inch acrylic paintings that incorporate modeling clay to show the human figure through different perspectives in her exhibition, “your body is a paradise.” When creating this body of work, her goal was to change the perception of ideal bodies and help viewers come to terms with their own insecurities.
A monochrome series of oil paintings using the human form are featured in “Identify.” Alexa Orozco’s work is an exploration of the human form and dramatic lighting while experimenting with materials new to the artist.
“Painting has always been my medium of choice and I wanted to venture out of the usual acrylics and work with oil paints. The series was inspired by taking several figure drawing lessons, which I really appreciated,” said Orozco.
The Hannah Nantt exhibition, “Sudoku has done more for my mental health than my previous two psychiatrists” is a series of ceramic pieces focusing on Nantt’s aphorisms on apathy.
Recounting her process, she states, “I wanted to focus on a specific aesthetic for my work rather than a particular idea and ended up finding one through practice anyway. I love ceramics, especially wheel making, so the outside of the pot has always been less important to me than just making a pot in the first place.
” I DO NOT KNOW EITHER “ by Jay Gaare, is an exploration of proportion and color. Gaare’s ceramic wall hangings, papier-mâché sculptures and beaded curtains are used to give the view a sense of childlike wonder, with a twist.
“This body of work is from a small ceramic tray with the words ‘IT’S OK, I DON’T KNOW EITHER’ painted under glaze. ‘I DON’T KNOW EITHER’ is the result of me being allowed to forget a theme or purpose for art and just do, “ Gaare said.
Chesnea Griffin’s exhibition, “Oneirology”, is a series of cyanotypes created from digitally manipulated photographs. Oneirology is the study of dreams, and Griffin digs deep into his own dreams and discovers their meaning.
“I like a mix of science and art, sometimes science is more art than science – a lot of people don’t understand that.” said Griffin.
Jocelyn Bexell’s exhibition, “Too developed,” explores the relationship between nature, technology and humanity through a digitally painted graphic novel short story.
“I’ve loved comics and graphic novels since I was a kid” Bexell explains. “Illustrations have a lot of power for storytelling; being able to express that is what drives me to create.
After welcoming the public, there will be a gallery talk with the artists at 7 p.m. The exhibition-reception is free and open to the public. Masks are not required, but people who are not fully vaccinated or deemed vulnerable are encouraged to wear masks.
While at the Northwest Arts Center, the exhibit will be on view Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. It is closed on public holidays.
This exhibition is supported in part by a grant from the North Dakota Council on the Arts, which receives funds from the state legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts.