WSUV Celebrates the Legacy of Student Art at 30th Annual Art Exhibit

In celebration of 30 years of student artwork, the curatorial team in the Art Department held an opening reception for the 30th Annual Art Exhibit at WSUV on April 22, showcasing the works of student alumni in the past, as well as snippets of those alumni’s current works, all across 3 gallery spaces around campus.

For the event, there was also music, food and drinks, screen printing, and tours of the gallery spaces around on campus. In the reception space, visitors were free to explore, converse with each other, whilst celebrating the legacy of art creation at WSUV from a diverse set of student backgrounds.

Within the main gallery space itself, a range of works were shown. These works included woodwork, prints, drawings, ceramics, sculpture, paintings, photography, and more. While the artworks on display were thought-provoking and visually appealing, the throughline between past and present artworks was even more so.

The far wall of the gallery contained an array of alumni snippets that each highlighted what they are working on these days. These alumni snippets showed how their time at WSU had not only impacted their artistic journeys, but in many cases had a profound impact on many facets of their daily lives, even long after their classes had ended.

“Before I came to the campus, I wanted to get my BA in Fine Arts. But a couple weeks before I came to campus, my dog passed away. After that I basically felt like I’d lost my identity and how to develop my art voice. Coming here, I just felt like I had a start-over as an artist instead of trying to become an established artist.” Alumni Meakia Blake said. “Coming here was a really good place to learn from a fresh regard, and I was surprised at how supportive the art department is. It actually inspired me to want to pursue a career in art therapy.”

Professor and Curator Nannette Thrush said that she hopes the department continues to get more recognition in the future, as well as attendance to events and funding, while also citing an increased focus on visual literacy as a long-term goal for the future of the department.

“I’ve gotten so many comments from people today about how great it is to see how strong the art department is, and I think that this event and this exhibition has really shown our supporters in senior admin that we were even more than they knew.” Thrush said.

Professor and Curator Avantika Bawa said she hoped to see more people on campus engaged with the arts, whether that be through art classes, looking at artwork, or also hanging out during the open workshops hosted at the art studio. 

“We need to get more people who are not artists interested and engaged in the arts. And that’s what I like about teaching. You have criminal justice students take our classes. Psych majors take our classes. So if I can have that impact on a student who’s not an art major, I wonder what more classes will do on this campus.” Bawa said.

Bawa said that she hopes that as admin continues to see what the department can do, they give equal consideration to making spaces art-friendly when delegating new spaces on campus, citing the lack of a fully dedicated gallery on campus as an infrastructural challenge, while also showing gratitude to admin for the support they have provided.

This exhibition is located in the VDEN, VLIB, and VSCI gallery spaces, and can be viewed until August 10th .