Twenty graduating seniors from the College of Architecture, Art and Design, with concentrations in graphic design and photography, presented their capstone work in an exhibition held at the Old Main Art Galleries from April 22 to April 29.
19 graphic design students and one photography student showcased their work on the gallery walls.
The artists all gathered for a reception on April 23 in the galleries to speak with guests about their pieces and showcase what they have been working on and learning throughout their time at the university. Over 100 people attended the event, including friends, family, faculty and other students.
The graphic design exhibition was titled “Synthesis” and focused on combining diverse conceptions into a coherent whole. Each graphic design student got a section of one of the gallery rooms to display their work. The entire graphic design exhibition was themed in bright cyan, magenta and yellow.
Cassie Hester, the graphic design coordinator and the associate professor who taught the graphic design capstone course this semester, said that the semester has been long, but the final product made it worth it.
“It’s been a lot of hard work, they’ve been trying a lot of new things for the first time in terms of presentation and format,” Hester said while speaking at the reception, “and that’s been kind of frustrating and anxiety-ridden for a while, but it looks great.”
Students chose several projects they had created in various classes to display. Each student designed a specific brand identity to represent their work, including logos, business cards, color palettes and other coordinating design items. Projects showcased included drink bottle designs and packaging, mock social media posts and websites for real or fictional brands, album covers, videos, clothing and more.
Sarra Waters, one of the senior graphic design majors, said that all the students in her cohort have been working incredibly hard on their personal exhibitions.
“We have been working really hard on what projects we have to choose and what looks the best, what we want to be, like, represented from us, so it took a lot,” Waters said.
Her exhibition featured a yellow-and-cream patterned background with her name formatted as a logo at the top. Her projects included t-shirt designs, a BarkBox poster campaign and a series of multi-media advertisements for a Billie Eilish tour. One of the advertisements for the tour was a video shown on an iPad.
Waters said that her class has been incredibly close throughout the entire exhibition process.
“I’ve never seen a class more connected than our class,” Waters said. “We’re all on the same page, and we’re all very close with each other, so it made going about [the exhibition] very easy with communication with other students.”
Waters has plans to stay in Starkville after graduation. She will be working in graphic design at the Visual Communication Collaborative Laboratory and with the College of Life Sciences and the College of Forest Resources.
Miah Hall, the sole graduating photography senior and former photography editor for the Reflector, titled her exhibition “Nettleton.” It featured photos centered on Nettleton, Mississippi, that focus on small-town life.
Dixie Boswell, the exhibit coordinator for the College of Architecture, Art and Design, spoke about the dedication all of the students have to their work.
“This is like a milestone in a college student’s life and a person’s life, culminating their studies, their crafts, their creativity, their research,” Boswell said at the reception, “and we’re just so very, very proud of them.”
