Senior Project: Spring 2020

Graduation 2020 will be one that none of us will ever forget. Especially our graduating seniors. They have worked four years for the opportunity to present their senior projects, either in the Nutting Gallery, for the art majors, or in the Boyle Conference Room, for the Digital Media Design Majors. It is unfortunate that due to the pandemic the seniors will not be able to share their work in person with their family and friends. However, we are still determined to give them a public venue for their hard work.

I have appreciated the flexibility of this group of seniors. Many of them had their planned projects completely derailed because they were not able to access the video, audio, and art labs. But they all adjusted, and each student has created a website that showcases their online senior project/exhibition. Below you will find brief bios, personal images, and links to the senior websites. Please take some time to review the work and give a shout out to the seniors. Thank you for your support.

Jim Haizlett
Senior Project Professor

Visual Communication Design

Kelsey Hayden

I am Kelsey Hayden and I am graduating with a Visual Communication Design degree, minoring in Advertising Communications and Photography. Over the past four years, I have grown in my love for branding, UI/UX design, and digital illustration. For my senior exhibition, I created the t-shirt brand, Sour Sunflower. Sour Sunflower is a quirky, fun, and size inclusive t-shirt shop that features their products through their user-friendly app.

Madyson Amitrone

My name is Madyson Amitrone, I am a senior at West Liberty University. I am from Washington; Pennsylvania. I am studying illustration and I hope to use this degree to become a freelance illustrator. I would love to expand on my shop and sell prints of my work and more stickers of my designs. My senior project is bringing to life a comic I’ve been developing for several years. I am heavily inspired by graphic novels and other illustration works.

Mikaela DeMotto

I am Mikaela DeMotto and I am graduating In May with a Visual Communication Design degree. I am originally from Elkins, WV. Upon graduation, I plan to find a job pertaining to my major and move wherever my work takes me. For my senior project, I created the branding for a music festival as well as a UX/UI app design, accompanied by a motion graphic advertisement for said app.

Morgan Wiedebusch

I am Morgan Wiedebusch and I am graduating in May with a Visual Communications Degree and a track in Illustration. Wheeling, West Virginia is my hometown and I plan to become a tattoo apprentice after I graduate. I enjoy drawing with Posca Paint Pens, and for my senior exhibition I created 10 pieces in a modern psychedelic style. I am highly inspired by plants, animals, and insects as well as unworldly factors.

Art Education

Hannah Eller

My name is Hannah Eller and I was born in a small town in West Virginia. I am working on my Bachelors of Art Education at West Liberty University and I am in my final semester. I enjoy printmaking because it is not about the prints themselves but the process of creating them. My senior show is a drypoint series of images of me that show the anger and grief of losing the structure in my life and how I am leaving this behind when I leave West Liberty in May.

Erika Logston

I am Erika Logston and I am graduating in December with a degree in Art Education. I was raised in the small town Clarington,Ohio. I have a passion for teaching and giving students a creative outlet for their emotions. Throughout college I grew to love ballpoint pen drawing and photography which reflects in the pieces I created for my senior show. I draw inspiration from my childhood and the people that got me to where I am today.

Travis Smith

My name is Travis Smith, and I am from Burgettstown, Pennsylvania. My major is Art education, and I chose this because I love helping people, and I love the creation process. I never really had an interest in art until high school, when I began creating and became more involved with the community. I love what I do.

Community Education

Taylor Warren

I am Taylor Warren and I am graduating in May with a degree in Community Education and a minor in Fine Arts. I was born and raised in Wheeling, West Virginia and I plan on spending a year working locally before pursuing a MFA in Printmaking. I find joy in exploring/experimenting with print techniques, and I have completed my senior show by using a combination of these methods and digital drawings of the people I care about.

Digital Media Design

Olivia Baumhoer

I am Olivia Baumhoer and I’m graduating with two degrees in Digital Media Design with a concentration in video production and Broadcasting. After graduation, I will be moving to Indianapolis to work for the NCAA at their headquarters as a digital communications post graduate intern. My senior project is called “What’s A Boss?” which is a podcast where I teach my mom about nerd culture. It’s inspired by my love of video games and various aspects of nerd culture and wanting to share that passion with my family.

Dakota Knotts

I am Dakota Knotts, and I’ll be graduating with a degree in Digital Media Design, with a focus in video production.

After graduation, I hope to be able to use my degree to produce heartfelt content that everyone can enjoy.

My senior project is a “A Day at the Airport.” A short documentary on a pilot I met while and how he goes about his day.

Kellsi Anderson

I am Kellsi Anderson from Friendly, WV. I’m graduating with a degree in Digital Media Design with a concentration in Video and minors in Photography and Costume Design. My favorite pastime is doing freelance photography work for events or photoshoots. After graduation, I’ll be completing my final year in the Energy Express program with AmeriCorps. While doing so, I plan to look for jobs within social media marketing or creating digital video/photo content. For my Senior Exhibition, I worked with Empress Emporium to create an integrated advertising strategy, which includes a website, a short commercial, and educational cards for her store.

Patrick King

I’m Pat King, and I’ll be graduating with a degree in Digital Media Design with a focus on video production.

After graduating, I’ll be looking to work somewhere in my field while continuing to make independent projects.

My capstone is “Discontinued – A Story of the Unexpected.” It’s a documentary following the creation of my original senior project, a short film, and how COVID-19’s developments lead to having to stop production.