Listen Here
By Lillian Barhorst
Behind the scenes, seven University of Findlay art students prepare for the Senior Art Exhibit held at The Dudley & Mary Larks Lea Gallery in the Garner Fine Arts Pavilion on Findlay’s campus. The exhibit is not until February 2027, but the preparation starts now.
Senior Portfolio and Exhibition is a class requirement for Visual Arts majors typically during their senior year. Students gain real-world experience taking ownership of every detail that goes into this production. Starting at the beginning of the fall semester, students meet every Friday to discuss what needs to be done and bring in new ideas. All members are assigned responsibilities and contribute ideas.
Beverly Fanning, associate professor of graphic design, oversees the students as they select and prepare their artwork, design marketing materials, and complete the installation.
“The senior exhibition celebrates our students’ exceptional talent and reflects the program’s success in preparing them for meaningful careers in the creative arts,” said Fanning.
Seniors Ryan Ricciardo, Samuel Derstine, Ryleigh Field, Madelyn Fry, Brooke Kirian, Brandon Richardson, and Blake Hauenstein have been working together on this project. Fanning used student’s strengths and weaknesses when assigning roles. Creative Director Ryan Ricciardo, a senior graphic design major, leads the conversations in group settings and is ready to fill in when people are struggling to complete a task. Ricciardo said each student has strong leadership qualities, making assigning responsibilities both challenging and productive. People can have individual or shared roles. Derstine and Hauenstein are designing the poster that will be hung throughout campus and displayed on campus monitors. Richardson oversees social media posts with content from behind the scenes and Fry keeps live updates from progress to presentation day.
Ryleigh, an art management major student, will get first-hand experience organizing a space as she is responsible for setting up and taking down the show. Field organizes the exhibition list as the art pieces are submitted. Fry says there is a lot of support from the campus community.
“There’s lots of people who attend and encourage us to put up posters,” Fry said.
This exhibit hosts a variety of art pieces produced and submitted by senior art students. The class full of six seniors can submit at least five pieces, allowing a minimum of 30 pieces in the exhibit. The categories have a wide range including kinetic type, animation, mixed media, painting, graphic design, photography, printmaking, and drawing. Any senior is welcome to submit their work. There will not be outside faculty coming in for a judging process, but the art will be reviewed by classmates to ensure its quality.
Every year, the marketing poster follows a theme. This year the debate was between an art heist, Ocean’s Eleven, The Breakfast Club, and more that were discussed in a recent meeting.
Riccardo will exhibit his senior capstone, Oilers Racing, that shows how students can get a more hands-on life experience internship at the university. His movie poster from a recreation assignment is based off Invincible. A magazine cover and pages about an overseas student coming to America who came to play a sport knowing it was going to be the last time.
“I would highly encourage people to go to the show,” Ricardo said. “It definitely means a lot to us seniors.”
This is an event that is free to the public, and students are encouraged to attend the reception Feb. 21 or visit the Dudley & Mary Larks Lea Gallery to view their work before the exhibit closes March 18.
