Spring Quarter is the time to see graduate and undergraduate art displayed in thesis shows.
Spring Quarter is really dedicated to BFAs and MFAs
said Petra Kralickova, Ohio University Gallery Director.
The shows will mark the end of many students' careers at OU, as most of them will graduate after spring.
Aside from one show featuring art from visiting professors, all the shows displayed in either the OU Gallery in Seigfred Hall and Trisolini Gallery will be student shows.
Most shows are one week long and feature one or two students' work, Kralickova said.
The shows are necessary for undergraduate and graduate students to take, he said. With their spaces scheduled a year in advance, the students have been working on perfecting the pieces for their shows since the beginning of Fall Quarter or summer.
We're all stressing out said Barrett Skrypeck, a third-year graduate student in painting.
Many of the graduate students have studios located together in The Ridges. Other than acting as a TA for one class, their only other responsibility is producing art, which they might do for 50 hours a week.
I've got a lot invested in it personally Skrypeck said.
Skrypeck is working on his show of mixed media paintings, which he hopes will contain 100 pieces.
For Skrypeck and many other graduate students, this show signals a possible end of the freedom to produce work and entry into a normal job.
That's pretty rare
where you get a job where they want you to paint
Skrypeck said with a laugh.
Other than those who can find jobs teaching, most graduates obtain other jobs and work on art at night.
It's really hard to find a job teaching somewhere
Skrypeck said. He attributes this to tenure and to a market flooded with numerous graduates each year.
The graduate show is also a possible source of stress. In addition to moving their art into the gallery and purchasing publicity postcards, food and drinks for the show, students also must undergo a thesis defense.
The students must meet with a five-person thesis committee before the show can officially open.
You defend yourself and why you did this
Skrypeck said.
The defense should not be difficult because of the amount of time students have been working on the art and talking about it, he said.
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