Come and visit the newest student art show. “Constellation: Working in a Series” explores the work of student artists as they create a series around a common theme. Each artwork shines on its own, but as a series, they form a constellation that tells a story beyond one image.

 

Sara Fletcher, Associate Professor of Art, said, "We warmly welcome visitors from any disciplines, on or off campus, to experience the Constellations show." The variety of artwork waiting to be seen stretches down the hallway, filling the room with color and creativity. The art invites visitors to ponder how each piece relates to the rest in its series and see the similarities and differences in each artwork.

 

An art reception was held on Sept. 10 with many of the artists and fellow students sharing thoughts, opinions and their creative process in greeting their art.

One student artist is Abriana Prado, a junior Graphic Design major. Prado was assigned a pattern project in one of their classes, which is a collection of different symbols and colors all put together. Padro said, “I took details from a show that I liked at a time and turned little symbols in that show into a pattern.” Padro was excited to be able to show their art again in an event like this.

Artwork from several classes is displayed, including graphic design, drawing and painting. Fletcher said, "The works include traditional and digital media, with themes including music posters, typographic alphabets, different views on a landscape, figure and ground ink studies from nature, and book illustrations."   

 

The music concert posters represent a variety of popular music artists through the medium of digital art. Viewers can find references to their favorite songs in several pieces throughout the gallery. Each artist incorporates the feeling of the music into their work, letting their distinct style represent their favorite artist.

 

Oil paintings are also displayed and created by the painting class. These paintings are based on famous landscape paintings from art history. The students approached the reference in two ways: one with a brush and the other with a palette knife. The paintings invite the viewer to look closely at each piece and analyze the differences and similarities in each approach.

 

Artwork from Drawing One is also represented. The students painted a still life only using flat washes of black ink to show the objects before them. Each student's piece relates to the larger collection of paintings from the class, depicting the same still life from various angles.

 

Some students have been working on these projects for an entire semester. The show displays several groups of "weekly creative projects." This project is a graphic design assignment in

which a new piece is created almost weekly. By the end of the semester, students have a whole series of artworks that are now hung for viewers to see. The weekly creative projects on view include postage stamp designs, children's book illustrations, greeting card designs and digital food art.

Prado also commented on how art shows help students. “The art galleries here at CUI have people outside the major, like Math majors, who are taking painting classes. Even if they are just doing it for requirements, everyone is collaborative, and everyone wants to learn from one another.”

Rachel Soo, Visual Arts Department Chair, said, "I'm always impressed by the creativity, dedication and curiosity our students bring to their projects." Students in Concordia's visual arts classes created all the artworks, including studio arts and graphic design. A wide range of grades is represented, from freshmen to senior artists.

 Many students at the art reception enjoyed the variety. Peter Rivette, a senior Music major, said, “There is a section dedicated to unique type fonts. That is what caught my eye. I really like the different ways that they portrayed the alphabet. One in particular was almost 3-D visually with bright colors.”

The next art event, The Aerie, is coming up soon, and many students are excited from all different majors as they are able to submit a variety of poetry and art to the event to be seen and presented in front of professors and fellow students. Martin Herr, a junior Graphic Design major whose work was in the Constellation Art Show said, “I haven't submitted in years previous, but I might this year. I have to think about making some new art to submit.” The deadline for art submissions is the first week of December. You can visit the cui.edu website, and under the Art and Visuals Department, you will find the page for the Aerie 2025. Submit your application for your art and be a part of the constellation of artists at Concordia.

Constellations is on view on the second floor of Grimm Hall South until Oct. 24. The show is the perfect place to stop and take a moment to look at beautiful art.

Tags: Visual Arts, Exhibits, Graphic design

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