At the end of each semester, the senior visual arts majors preparing to graduate are given the chance to show off their hard work at the senior exhibition. The 2014 spring senior art exhibition will be taking place at the Contemporary Art Gallery. The exhibition will see its opening reception on Thursday, May 8 from 5 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. providing refreshments for guests. Dale Newkirk, the director of the Contemporary Art Gallery, said this show is a big deal for graduating art majors, because it allows them to see how far they have progressed as artists. For many graduating art majors, to see their work being put on display in the senior art exhibition is more of a lifetime milestone than walking across the stage in their cap and gown and being handed their diploma on graduation day. “To the [graduating visual art] students this show is a representation of what they have achieved in the process of earning a B.A. in Visual Art,” said Newkirk. “It means more to most of them than graduation.” The exhibition allows guests to see what the university’s art department is doing to mold and encourage the potential and artistic talent of its pupils. The exhibition is as much an exhibition of the ability of the university art department and its faculty as it is a final showcase for the art undergraduate students. Student work from all areas of visual arts will be on display at the spring senior exhibition, from painting to sculpture to other forms of visual media. For more information on the senior art exhibition, contact the university’s art department or Dale Newkirk at dale.newkirk@selu.edu.