The Stetson University Senior Thesis Exhibition will open with a public reception Friday, March 18, from 6-8 p.m., at the university’s Homer and Dolly Hand Art Center. The art exhibition will remain open through April 2. The opening reception and the art exhibition are open to the public, free of charge.

The senior students exhibiting in the Hand Art Center are Erin McCollum, Danielle Grisham, Gisela Alvarez, Taylor Gunderson, Elizabeth Frates and Natasha Radovicz Schaidt.

McCollum’s art is titled “Imperious.” McCollum states that the goal of her collection is to serve as “an aesthetic reminder of the past, to reflect that such acts of greed are also rampant in our modern world.” She continues, “The same outlandish misuse of power is still repeated for many of the exact same reasons: God, glory, and gold. The fact of the matter is that the privileged have no right to establish lavish living over the backs and bones of others yielding, and in many cases, deceived human beings. The unsustainability of this desire to dominate is my focus.”

Grisham’s art is titled “Generic Princess.” She believes, “Princesses all have one thing in common: they need to be rescued.” Grisham’s art intends to subvert this notion: “But what if the Princess decided she could do it herself? What if she decided to be the hero and not the damsel in distress? What if she didn’t want to wait for the Prince to come rescue her? Maybe she doesn’t have all the answers, and maybe she doesn’t have complete faith in her ability to defeat the monster and survive, but maybe, just maybe, she has the guts to try. You’re just going to have to read the book to find out.” (Grisham’s art is featured on front page of Stetson Today.)

Alvarez’s art is titled “All You Can Carry,” and her mission as an artist is to let the audience interpret her work as they want. Her only instruction to view her art is to “Fill these bags with whatever you want, but I find it more meaningful to fill them with things that are hard to let go of. They are garbage bags, after all, which are primarily used to throw things away. Fill them with things of sentimental value. Fill them with things from your childhood or things that are valuable to you. You can fill them with people or relationships. Think of whatever it is in your life that you wouldn’t want to let go of or live without. Now, throw it away.”

Gunderson’s art is titled “7 Deadly Sins.” Gunderson comments, “As an artist, my work aims to direct attention towards social problems or situations that are occurring in society. My senior show focuses on the seven deadly sins in a way I perceive them. Each sin is presented as a bust-like sculpture of a creature, and individually they are accompanied by a distinguishing cut-out letter, as well as some symbolic features that identify the sin. The attributes of each piece are chosen by researching a sin, compiling information about it and then imagining how I would translate those characteristics into physical representations.”

Frates’ art is titled “Wait with Me,” and she is bringing the 1600s back to modern day with her installment. “This collection of paintings and drawings is inspired by the seventeenth century Dutch still life paintings, known as ‘little banquets,’” she says. “With still life paintings, there is an absence of people, yet evidence of their activity. Even though we don’t really reflect on it as spectators, someone has poured the wine and eaten from the baskets of fruit. This paradoxical unseen presence is important to my concept. Who is the person interacting with the objects? Will someone be returning, or is the still life abandoned?”

Schaidt’s art is titled “Inside the Artist’s Studio” and is a reflection of her “insatiable appetite for color.” She explains, “My method is ‘give and take.’ Starting on a clean white canvas, I sketch with charcoal, drawing the shapes and figures that I find important. With acrylic, I begin to load the canvas with color, giving the white canvas life. I have left some parts of the canvas exposed with the charcoal as a symbolic gesture to imply that my works are here as an example of my unfinished journey into the world of painting and color.”

The Hand Art Center operates Monday through Friday, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, contact the Hand Art Center at (386) 822-7270.

by Nicole Melchionda