Annual BFA exhibit displays students’ growth and creativity

April 30, 2014

By Nat Edson

The Crossman Gallery of UW-Whitewater will hold an exhibition to showcase the work of its students. The gallery will contain the works of six students showing a body of work that will be their final step in the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) program.

Those who go to the exhibit can expect a variety of art. Everything from metal to ceramics to paintings will be on display for all to see.

“They will see a concentrated body of work by each of the six artists,” said Michael Flanagan, Crossman Gallery director. “The students participating have a pretty

intense focus on creating a coherent, cohesive group of work to display.”

This show represents the culmination of four years of training for the students participating. To get to this point, the students first had to go through two intense review procedures, the entry and junior review. Both involve meeting with a review team of three faculty members who give the student a thumbs up or thumbs down.

From there, the student is given the go-ahead to do an entirely new body of work, a new series of pieces. That is what will be on display at the exhibit in the Crossman Gallery.

“We’re really proud of these students,” Flanagan said. “The BFA takes extra effort and a fair amount of diligence to get through the program, so we’re super proud of students who get through it.”

Senior Nicole Lacriola is one of the students participating. Her specialization is in graphic design.

“I am doing a design material/branding for a folk music festival,” Lacriola said. “This includes a lot of promotional elements you’d come across at a weekend-long music festival: tickets, wristbands, maps, posters, ads, website, t-shirts.”

Lacriola said the idea has been a long time coming. A huge fan of music in general, she said she derived her idea from big music festivals like Outside Lands or Lollapalooza. She’s been developing the idea over the course of the semester, and it has started to come to life in work recently.

Starting with the computer, Lacriola uses Adobe Creative suite for most of her work, saying it does best to convey the overall look and feel of a music festival. Later, she uses hands on and handmade methods to round the pieces out.

After taking a self-prescribed moment of relaxation, Lacriola plans to intern as a graphic designer for a small company in Madison. She’ll be using the free time with school completed to help build her portfolio.

The Crossman Gallery will hold the BFA Exhibition from May 5 to 10. The opening reception will be May 5 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Crossman Gallery.