By Megan Jones, Advertising Manager
Each semester, graduating seniors at West Liberty University participate in the show in order to complete their degree in Graphic Design or Art Education. This semester, five artists are featured in the exhibit: Jenny Ball, Jessica Bethel, Alyssa Culp, Emily Jessee and Courtney Moore. The highly anticipated and successful Senior Exhibition is on display now through May 11 in the Nutting Gallery in the Fine Arts Building.
After months of hard work, a few weeks worth of mental breakdowns and an all-nighter to make sure everything was perfect, each artist picked an area in the gallery to make their own.
Jessee, a senior Graphic Design major from Charleston, W.Va., decided to revive “Invasion of The Space Preachers” with a Space Preachers campaign. Jessee included poster designs and shirt designs. She also campaigned on social media.
Culp, another Graphic Design senior, fell in love with packaging last year, which led to her creating three different packaging lines for Landess, a local skin company. Culp had to pay very close attention to detail to create multiple logos, surface designs and product branding information.
Moore, the show’s one and only Art Education major, focused her project on the human body because of all the different interpretations that can come from it. Her project showcased the process of making her prints, as well as her final products.
Ball, a senior Graphic Design major, had to do more research than designing for her project. Ball created her own line of marijuana infused candy called Canna Candy. She hopes to create awareness about medical marijuana as well as change negative views towards the idea. She created floor to ceiling informational posters, brochures and packaging for an entire line of products.
Last but not least, Bethel, a senior Graphic Design major, displayed “Time Piece,” a comic book. She illustrated the first chapter completely on her iPad. She’s had this idea for years and finally had the chance to bring it to life! Bethel even sold some of her comics during the show.
After putting hundreds of hours of work into the show, the seniors finally feel like they can breathe.
Professor Robert Villamagna was pleased with the outcome. He said, “The turnout was wonderful, I wish we had this every month. This show is ultra-packed, so that’s really good because there’s a lot of energy.”
Senior Advertising students Brett Cox, Megan Jones and Asia Waggle decided to promote the Senior Exhibition as their Advertising Capstone project.
Waggle said, “I really feel like we impacted the gallery turn out. It feels great to know our campaign actually had a positive effect!”
The Capstone class worked the entire semester on planning and implementing the campaign. With only three members in the class, it was a new experience for some students.
Cox said, “Learning how to figure things out on our own was very rewarding as well as one of the toughest things we had to do. Also, having two solid members who coordinated and worked together nicely was rewarding as well. Normally, you have one person who isn’t pulling their weight, but we all stepped up and did our part.”
If you didn’t have a chance to make it to the gallery opening, the Senior Exhibit will be displayed in the Nutting Gallery until May 11!
Photo credit: Megan Jones
