Full Bloom
This spring, Kittredge Gallery exhibited senior thesis projects by 12 studio art majors at the annual Senior Art Show. Among them were two artists focused on making invisible human experiences visible. Megan Breiter 鈥18 asked her portrait subjects to name a character trait they embodied or aspired to develop, then used the symbolic meaning of flowers to bring 鈥渋nner, unseen development鈥 to the surface. Kyrianna Bolles 鈥18 connected with her subjects through a shared experience of chronic pain. In a self-portrait, living violas burst through her back, representing her own struggle with a lifelong illness. View more senior art at pugetsound.edu/kittredge.
Beyond canvas and paint, works displayed at this year鈥檚 Senior Art Show utilized various materials, including wood鈥攁 medium chosen by three artists. Sculptures made by Jarrett Prince 鈥18 juxtapose wood, a live material that requires skill to shape, with unnatural and unyielding steel. Similarly, Samuel Crookston Herschlag 鈥18 married natural and industrial materials by covering wooden forms with metallic leafing. He says the forms 鈥渂ecome dense metallic structures that are no longer subject to impermanence鈥 and represent the hardships he鈥檚 overcome. Stephanie Clement 鈥19 embroidered faces of women onto the cushions of wooden chairs鈥攐bjects that people use freely and discard when they鈥檙e not useful鈥攁s a statement on the treatment of women in a patriarchal society.
