CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Krannert Art Museum will exhibit the work of seniors in the School of Art and Design during the final week of the school year.
The School of Art and Design Bachelor of Fine Arts exhibition opens Saturday, May 7, and continues through May 15. An opening reception will be held 5 to 7 p.m. May 7. The exhibition will include work from students in art education, art history, ceramics, graphic design, industrial design, metals, new media, painting, photography and sculpture.
Katie Gamble, a senior who has a double major in new media and painting, made an audio podcast for the show. She is excited to have her work shown at Krannert Art Museum.
“We go to Krannert to see the real art,” she said of herself and her fellow art students. “This feels real. That’s why I put so much into this piece, so it is the absolute best of what I could do.”
Gamble’s podcast is titled “The Werewolf Is Like You and Me.” She interviewed a friend who was diagnosed with multiple mental illnesses as a child. In the podcast, the two talk about labels and finding yourself.
“She is a firm believer that there is no true you,” Gamble said of her friend. “There could be a lot of different versions of you. It’s about being true to who you want to be in that moment.”
Gamble said the conversation came out of her friend’s fears that being on medication for her illness would change who she was.
Museum visitors can sit and listen to the podcast – which runs 17 minutes, 44 seconds – on a tablet computer with headphones in the museum gallery.
The work of Jade Williams, a senior studying sculpture, references old visual merchandising, such as store window displays, as well as how black women are portrayed in the media and societal perceptions of them.
Williams has an installation in the BFA show titled “Hottenthots Live!” inspired by Hottentot Venus, a freak-show attraction in 19th-century Europe.
Williams tried to recreate that in her installation by using a mannequin and textile prints she designed.
“I use lots of color – hot pinks, yellow, red. It’s a very colorful and, in my opinion, fun piece, but it does have some darker undertones to it,” she said.
She likes sculpture because of “how experimental and explorative it is. It has given me the chance to play around with a lot of materials and combine things that you wouldn't think of going together,” Williams said.
She is also excited about having her work at Krannert Art Museum.
“It’s a really well-known institution, so to be able to say I did a show there is pretty awesome,” Williams said.