The end of the semester is a busy but exciting time for graduating ceramics majors. Those nearing graduation are preparing for senior review, a requirement to graduate and participate in the Senior Exhibition.
Senior reviews are professor-led evaluations of each student’s final project. Students must prepare to answer various questions about their work from a panel of three professors and obtain a certain score to be considered for provisionals or pass their senior review.
Those considered for provisionals must improve their work or risk failing senior review altogether. If the student does not pass provisionals or reviews, they are not allowed to graduate and must retake a senior project class.
After passing reviews, students finish the semester by preparing their final projects for the Senior Exhibition. The exhibit showcases the work of graduating seniors in the Contemporary Art Gallery every semester.
Ava Holloway is one of the graduating ceramics majors currently working on her project. Her project will center around three bodies made up of red clay. The bodies will hold different objects with thematic significance.
“For each body, I am throwing some various little ‘forms’ that are going to sit inside them,” Holloway said. “Basically, they’re representing the decay of the body and the emergence of your spirit. This will talk about individuality and body positivity.”
Holloway expressed that her senior project is her favorite piece of work she has created in her academic career.
First-semester seniors are beginning their final projects.
Savannah Phillips, a double major concentrating in photography and ceramics, is working on her final project but will not be presenting at this semester’s Senior Exhibition. Her project will include large clay slabs that will serve as her centerpiece’s backdrop. The centerpiece will be a wolf made of clay with a feminine figure made out of fired clay within it.
“Hopefully audience members can come in and interact with my piece, and slowly as time goes on, the raw clay on the outside of the central sculpture will degrade to reveal the fired sculpture underneath,” Phillips said.
Ashlynn Zimmerman, another graduating ceramics major, is working on her final project called “We were all children once,” a collection of ceramic ducks that will be presented at the Senior Exhibition. Zimmerman explained the piece represents how certain aspects of childhood never truly leave us as we get older.
“This is probably my favorite project I have worked on just because of how long it has taken and the amount of effort put into it. You can see the work and dedication I’ve put into this project. I’ve got nearly 200 ducks at this point,” Zimmerman said.
The Senior Exhibition opens on April 25 at 5 p.m. in the Contemporary Art Gallery for students wishing to view the artwork.
