Four East Central University senior art students will showcase their exhibits later this month and in early May in the Pogue Art Gallery of the Hallie Brown Ford Fine Arts Center.
Janet Hicks, of Wellston; April Gaither, of Wilson; Marla Cooper, of Shawnee; and Eli Casiano, of Sulphur; will display their exhibits for public view on various dates.
Hicks’ exhibit, called ‘Closure’, will be shown on April 29-30 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
‘Closure’ will consist of installation sculptures that have to do with Hicks’ experiences with death, loss and memory. Two of the installations address the death of the artist’s father and the third represents the gradual loss of her grandmother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s Disease.
Hicks will receive a bachelor of fine arts in studio art from ECU in May. Her work has been in the 2011 and 2012 ECU student exhibits. She received her associate’s degree in art from Seminole State College in 2009. She plans to take a year off before pursuing a master’s of fine arts degree in sculpture.
Gaither’s graphic arts exhibit, ‘Dulcilea’, will be displayed on May 1-2 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
‘Dulcilea’ is an exhibition that showcases the Dulcilea brand’s “Gorgeous Expressions” and “Night Life” lines, including packaging, advertisement and web design. “Gorgeous Expressions” has a classic, elegant appearance with its sleek packaging and soft-color palette of gray and white and with floral accents. The “Night Life” packaging emphasizes the cityscape with the black and white drawing of different cityscapes on the packaging and eye-popping colors of green, pink, yellow, orange, purple, and blue that reflects the colors of the city at night.
Gaither will receive a bachelor of fine arts degree with a concentration in graphic arts in May. She plans to continue her education by obtaining a master’s degree in graphic arts. Her work has been published in the 2011 and 2012 editions of Originals, ECU’s literary journal, and she is the recipient of the Ron Young Award, Ada Artists Association Award, and the Dean’s Award of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at ECU.
Cooper’s exhibit, ‘The Purple Penguin’, will be for show on May 3-6 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
‘The Purple Penguin’ shows a faux frozen yogurt business, created by the artist. The exhibition will feature designs for posters and packaging, along with three dimensional models of some of the packaging.
Cooper is a graduate of Shawnee High School and received an associate’s degree from Seminole State College in 2009. She is expected to earn her bachelor of fine arts degree with a concentration in graphic arts in May. Her work is also on view in ECU’s Linscheid Library.
Casiano’s exhibit, called ‘Tomorrow We Die”, will be shown May 7-10 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“Tomorrow We Die” is concerned with hedonism of American society and its effect on his cultural identity. The fixation on self-improvement, sexual interaction and transformation to reach fulfillment are reoccurring themes in his work. He reconstructs fragmented imagery from films, comics and television programs into acrylic paintings on panel. By deconstructing and reconfiguring these recognizable images, he challenges the audience to make their own connections to the work.
During his time at ECU, Casiano has been awarded the Leon Polk Smith Scholarship for three consecutive academic years and been featured in ECU Originals Literary and Visual Arts Magazine each of the past four years. In May, he will graduate with a bachelor of fine arts degree in art with a concentration in studio art and plans to pursue a master of fine arts degree in painting in the future.