By Madison Boboltz, Staff Writer
December graduates, Kyra Mobley and Macaela Cordova, have prepared several pieces for their senior art show, which opened Monday, Nov. 25 and will end with a reception on Friday, Dec. 6 from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Ira M. Taylor Gallery of the Frost Center for the Visual Arts. In addition to celebrating the art, guests may also enjoy refreshments and earn chapel credit.
The purpose of a senior art show is to recognize the talent of the graduating art majors, to give them a platform to share work they are passionate about and to appreciate how they have grown throughout their time as HSU art students.
Both Mobley and Cordova are graphic design majors. They collaborated throughout the semester to plan what they wanted to do for the show. “We have been meeting with our professor every week. The first few weeks were about brainstorming ideas we would like to explore, and then each week we narrowed it down. Especially in the past few weeks, we had to go into the gallery and figure out where everything was going to go and how it was going to fit. We spent a lot of time in there,” Mobley said.
Mobley and Cordova said that this senior art show is a little different because rather than showing a lot of their previous work, they are presenting many new pieces using styles outside of their usual area of expertise.
When asked if there was a theme, Mobley and Cordova said that the name of the show describes who they are more than it describes their actual work. They named it “Designing Women” after a television show from the 80s because they, as graphic design majors, are designing women. The pieces that make up the show, however, are quite diverse and represent each of their own unique styles.
Mobley’s work is separated into three sections, one with 12 pieces, one with four and the last has 11 pieces. Cordova’s work, which focuses on children and how they are noticed in the world, is 11 pieces total. It too is separated into sections of three or four each. Interestingly, Cordova was not initially that interested in graphic design.
“For me, I actually didn’t like art in the beginning. I had applied for nursing when I first came here. I believe it was a class in high school that sparked my interest in art. Then I met everyone here and came out of my shell. I was editor for the HSU Corral last semester, which was an interesting experience getting to work with people,” Cordova said.
Mobley also considered other options, but settled on graphic design and was also afforded helpful opportunities as a student.
“When I came here I thought about doing business, but I really like art, so I decided to do that instead. My parents were not happy about it, but I think that as I have completed all the classes and learned so much, and acquired really useful skills, I realize that it is going to be a really great asset for me in the future because it is a growing field. We have a lot of opportunities. I have never worked in our marketing department, but I got a great internship through the department,” she said.
Mobley’s dream is to work for Disney. She will apply for a program in January and hopefully move to Florida next August. Because she minored in marketing, she is also considering a job in that field since it works nicely with graphic design.
Cordova thinks she might do some graphic design part time, but she is currently more focused on the possibility of going back to school to become a teacher. Her background in art, she believes, will be useful.
“Since I have noticed that I enjoy working with children, I want to show how kids can express themselves through art. It can help them in their life, whether it helps them process a difficult situation or it may even help them with other disciplines, like science and math,” Cordova said.
Mobley said that she hopes people continue to recognize the value of art and creativity because it is important for all people to have a way of expressing themselves, which is a skill people seem to grow out of as they enter the professional world. Maybe their art show can serve as a helpful reminder.