Taylor Dever was walking past Ohio University Art Gallery when she noticed her art piece being displayed.
“I was walking past the doors and I saw (my art) on the wall and was like, ‘that’s mine,’ ” Dever, a sophomore studying graphic design, said.
Ohio University’s School of Art + Design is holding an exhibition titled “At First Sight: A Survey of Foundations Method” at Seigfred Hall from now to Sept. 16. The exhibition highlights selected freshmen student projects made during the 2016-2017 Academic School Year.
“(The exhibition) shows how much the freshmen have progressed since last year,” Dever said. “It’s really nice to see everyone’s work and how they all come together.”
Having their art displayed in the exhibition was “an exciting moment,” Emily Farr, a sophomore studying studio arts, said.
“It’s nice to get that sense of your teacher is proud of you and thinks you did a really great job,” Farr, who uses they/them pronouns, said.
Farr created an illustration they described as “an expressive self-portrait” of a person cracking the glass ceiling. The self-portrait took more than two weeks to create.
Farr said the illustration was inspired by Hillary Clinton’s loss against Donald Trump during the presidential election. Clinton’s win would have been the “next step of a woman breaking the glass ceiling,” they said.
Lila Fisher, a sophomore studying studio arts, said having her art piece displayed felt “really gratifying.”
“Especially putting a lot of hard work into it and seeing the professor and other people viewing it, it’s kinda like I’m being recognized for my hard work,” Fisher said.
Fisher’s art piece was a form of plastic bag manipulation, she said. It took her two weeks of experimenting with materials to create the wearable structure.
The untitled piece was created as a representation of a “safe space” after her experience with anxiety, Fisher said.
“I wanted it to symbolize a shield whether physically or emotionally,” she said.
A piece of art can be interpreted in many different ways by different people, Farr said.
“It might be different from mine, but it’s interesting to see what other different interpretations there are of your own work and what (other people) saw in that,” Farr said.
