“Processing” is an art exhibition running until May 11 presented by the Art and Art History departments at Trinity University in partnership with the Neidorff Art Gallery. The showing features a wide range of work by senior art majors Ayden Bartsch, Piper Foster, Jacob Iverson, Michaela Judis, Jaeden Morgan, Pedro Ordoñez Acosta and Dawson Polovina. The reception for this event was held the night of Thursday, April 18, outside the gallery. The exhibition includes photography, painting and drawing. In keeping with the exhibition’s name, the show reflects a culmination of each student’s creative experimentation and expression over their years spent at Trinity.
Piper Foster, senior art and communication major, talked about the exciting and scary opportunity of having her art displayed in a gallery.
The senior art show is the anticipated final project for Trinity art majors. In reflecting on her journey to the senior art show, Foster spoke to what “processing” meant to her.
“I think that for me, drawing has always been a form of processing. The act of making it has always been sort of meditative in a way, very calming. So it’s less to do with the final product and more the process of making it,” Foster said.
Foster has about 21 pieces showcased in the exhibition. Most are drawings in graphite and colored pencil, and three are works of embroidery.
“All of them are more or less a collection of little things that I just found very interesting. Some are more personal portraits of family members, one of them is of my dog,” Foster said.
Pedro Ordoñez, senior art and finance major, mainly focuses on oil painting. His pieces in the exhibition concentrate on two guiding themes, one being floral and the other more personal, narrative arcs.
“I was really trying to find more of my voice throughout like these personal experiences in my other paintings,” Ordoñez said.
Personal and artistic growth is celebrated in the exhibition. Ordoñez talked about the inclusion of some work from past years to better demonstrate the evolution and support of the craft achieved at Trinity.
“Throughout [my time at Trinity,] just developing my scale, especially on oil painting. I mostly didn’t paint at all in high school … So changing that medium, and developing that medium, really helped me grow that at Trinity,” Ordoñez said.
Michaela Judis, senior art and psychology double-major, explores topics of mental health in her creative work. She spoke about exercising the technical complexity of her medium to convey this.
“I like the challenge of trying to portray abstract concepts like emotions in a two-dimensional space. In my larger pieces, I use a mixture of Galkyd and oil paint and pour it over the canvases,” Judis said. “This process can be scary sometimes as most of the work on the figure is complete and it can be difficult to control the pour. The way in which the pour overlaps with the figure depicts the non-linear journey of healing: some it is behind you, some of it is where you are now and some it the journey lays ahead before you.”
“Processing” showcases the passion, consideration and hard work of students’ artistic journeys and perspectives. The gallery exhibition is a beautiful opportunity to see the diverse array of artistry by graduating seniors.