“Let Art Speak”: Senior Art Majors One Step Closer to Graduation

Seniors Cassandra Chisholm, David Cunningham, Victoria Foster, Daniel Koval, Holly Ramey and Andrew Ravenscroft showed off their artwork at the “Let Art Speak” art showcase on December 6, 2014 at the Roper Gallery in FSU’s Fine Arts building.

The showcase is a graduation requirement for the Art Department’s seniors. It is a masterpiece of line and color, and according to the newsletter by the College of Liberal arts, the seniors’ art “is more than just art, but a visible celebration of their years in college.” The art was certainly spectacular, colorful and alive with the artists’ personalities.

The college of Liberal Arts also included each artist’s biography as well as what his/her work focused on. Chisholm incorporated artwork using metals, focusing on jewelry. Cunningham featured paintings and art work that connected with technology and included music and sports. Both Foster and Ramey’s artwork featured illustration, and Ramey also had ceramic pieces showcased. Koval’s artwork focused on the use of ink and also on graphic design. Ravenscroft also utilized illustration in his pieces, but his art work focuses more on humor.

Ramey has attended FSU since 2010. She is an art major with a concentration in illustration and ceramics and also a minor in art history. Ramey will graduate in a few weeks with a Bachelors in Fine Arts. She is from Oakland, Md. “I have always loved art. Drawing is one of my greatest passions,” said Ramey. She enjoys portalism, realism and stylistic characterization. Ramey did not originally work with ceramics, and she describes the encounter as “happening almost unexpectedly.” She said that she enjoys working most with coil sculpture because it is a challenge. She also enjoys working with the pottery wheel because feeling the clay form in her hands is satisfying for her.

Ramey said that illustration was her first love but ceramics was her second love: “I have always enjoyed working with my hands when I can create something and then using it as functional dinnerware or display it as a whimsical sculpture. It makes me, well, proud.” Ramey was nervous about her ceramic pieces being in the art show; she said that some people were impressed by her pieces, while others were not, but that she can take the criticism because she knows that the effort and time put into her work was the real pay off and in her heart she knows she created great pieces. Ramey was also the artist behind the ABC drawings, which she said were her favorite pieces in the show. She stated that the ABC pieces made her feel like a “real artist” and were of great pride to her because she created something that was interesting to her and hopefully her audience.

“Let Art Speak,” was a final hurrah for the seniors that contributed, and Ramey felt like the show came together perfectly because she got to work with fellow senior artists that worked very hard to put on a great show and show off their abilities in the art world.

Like Ramey, Koval, who is majoring in art and design with a minor in art history, will be graduating in a few weeks. He said that the concept of the show was created by all the participating members because they wanted the audience to draw their own conclusion about the art that was in the show. The pieces that Koval submitted for the show were all digitally manipulated, which is his favorite way of playing with mediums: “I wasn’t really nervous about entering anything either,” stated Koval about his involvement in the show.

The showcase was a capstone for these six graduating seniors. The seniors that participated were able to create art work that came alive to their audience and show the world what they are capable of creating with their specific mediums.