“Make Yourself at Home” is the theme for the Senior Art Exhibit premiering at 4:30 p.m. this Thursday, March 25.
The show, which is free and open to the public, will run through April 15. The exhibit showcases the works of four seniors, Kati (Krueger) Bernhardt, Malley Ugland, Mackenzie Lamp and Hannah Woods.
Katie Bernhardt, who is majoring in graphic design and studio arts, focuses her artwork on humankinds’ relationships with each other, animals, as well as their environment and religion.
“A lot of my work is centered around being a wife and a daughter,” Bernhardt said. “I also make pottery that’s domesticated dish sets. A lot of people who make pottery have decorative stuff, but I make functional kitchenware.”
The exhibit will also display Bernhardt’s 6×4-foot drawing of a flamingo, among other things.
Malley Ugland is also a graphic design and studio arts major. Ugland’s art style draws some inspiration from the semirealistic Lowbrow art movement. Lowbrow arose in Los Angeles, California in the late 1960s and 1970s as an underground visual art movement.
It has cultural roots in underground comix, punk music, tiki culture, graffiti, and cartoons, according to an article written by Errika Gerakiti in April of 2020.
Mackenzie Lamp is the only art education major of the four artists in the exhibit. Lamp’s artwork shows the individuality of humans and animals as well as natural landscapes.
“[My artwork] ties into the theme because most people have pictures of family, landscapes, or animals on their walls at home,” Lamp said.
Hannah Woods also double majors in graphic design and studio arts. Woods utilizes a combination of digital and physical processes in printmaking. Her artwork communicates ideas about consumerism and relationships, according to a Wayne State press release. The theme “Make Yourself at Home” was the perfect way to tie all of the women’s pieces together.
“We wanted to make the gallery an inviting place for people who were walking by to get them to come in and look at the artwork,” Lamp said. “We even included a little living room at the end of the show.”
Last spring, when the COVID-19 pandemic first hit, all classes at WSC went online. This made the four women’s art classes and projects even more challenging.
“I was in a printmaking class and instead of using the big printing press, which would take about 10 seconds to run a print through, I had to print by hand using a wooden spoon which took about a half-hour per print,” Bernhardt said.
Having to make art at home during the pandemic also helped the creators decide the theme for their show.
“A lot of the art we made at home and has to do with the relationships that you find within a home, so that’s kind of how we decided on that title,” Bernhardt said.
This aspect of their artwork helped the pieces come together cohesively. Everything about the show, down to the smallest details, has been meticulously planned out.
“We don’t just slap stuff on the walls,” Lamp said. “It took hours to figure out placements of the artwork looking at color, themes and position.
“You don’t think about it when you go into a museum, but there is a lot of work that goes into placement.”
Each of the four artists has put an incredible amount of work into their art, with pieces that have come from years’ worth of classes.
“Our senior show is a lot more work than being in any other show,” Bernhardt said. “The other shows have a specific class and teacher who do all of the prep work and typically, you only have one to three pieces in a show. With our senior show, we have eight to ten pieces that needed to be framed and polished off.”
After opening day, the gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday. It is closed Saturday. Shows end at noon on closing day.