By: Sarah Williams
The senior art exhibition is April 9th from 4-6pm in the Ganton Art Gallery. Attending opening night to showcase their works will be Melayna Stuckey, Emma Hale (previously known as Emma Devries), and Marnie Lillo.
Marnie Lillo’s Welcome To My Mind
Lillo is an art major with a concentration in digital art. She plans on becoming an Elementary Art Teacher after graduation. Her exhibition will include pieces she has been working on since Freshman year.
The message she wants the audience to take away is “there is beauty in oddities”. Her theme is imagination. Her art is inspired by stories she has read and cool phases she has heard.
A few weeks before the show, she knew it was time to sit down and create the poster. The sun art ended up being her favorite piece. Sketching the piece took 5 to 6 hours and finalizing took 7 to 8 hours.
Not all her work took roughly 14 hours, however. She is also presenting 3 pieces of skulls that she created in just black ink so the sketching took 2 hours and finalizing took 3 to 4 hours.
Lillo said she is emotionally attached to the original artwork and plans on storing them afterward. However, she will have a binder full of prints of her art to sell at the art exhibition.
Emma Hale’s Our Nature
Hale is majoring in art with a double concentration in illustration and graphic design. She plans on going into a career as a graphic designer and/or an illustrator. She has used her skills from her concentrations in making her poster and artwork. She wants her art to show what her time at SAU has produced.
Hale’s theme is nature. She includes nature in the physical environment and human nature. Nature is also her biggest inspiration, along with God’s creations.
“I hope my art spreads a positive message of beauty, joy, and comfort. I hope it is uplifting and inspirational.”
Hale
Hale’s favorite piece is her oil painting of Lake Superior. She started out brainstorming and going through several messy sketches. After catching a good idea, she made a refined sketch and began painting. She added layers and slowly built up the art till she was satisfied. Depending on the size and medium of her artwork, most of her art can take 10 to 50 hours to make.
The Lake Superior painting and other art may be available to buy in prints on opening night.
Melayna Stuckey’s Finding a Home
Stuckey is majoring in art with a double concentration in painting and drawing. Her goal is to use the exhibition to show what she has been working on for the past 4 years. She doesn’t have a specific theme or message for her exhibition, but she noted there was a tone.
“I came to realize this year that the majority of my art has a very familiar, personal, “home-y” tone.”
Stuckey
She drew her inspiration from significant people in her life and she made a lot of her art for these people. Depending on the size, her art can take 15 to 30 hours to make.
Her favorite work is a piece that depicts the view from outside the feed room of her grandparent’s barn. First, she started off by taking pictures. Next, she decided whether to paint or draw. She then choose to work in colored-pencil.
She plans to give away some of her art to the people she made them for. Others she is willing to sell to those who express interest. The art that does not sell will be shipped home.
Come out and support these talented artists on April 9th!
