WEST LIBERTY, W.Va., Dec. 8, 2019 — West Liberty University’s Senior Show opened last Wednesday in the Nutting Gallery. It features capstone projects by art seniors Lucas Shaver and Julia Schutz.
Shaver, from Vienna, W.Va., is in the Visual Communication Design program. He created a murder mystery thriller game “Escape the Truth” with 17 cartoon characters as his capstone.
“A unexpecting twisted killing game occurred among 17 adult participants who were told to gather for a scientific study. The only way to end the game is to find out the organizer, as well as the doctor,” he explained at the opening.
Following with the personal profile of each character as a hint, the highly interactive game allows the audience to infer and vote for the doctor. The result will be revealed on Dec. 12, the last day of the exhibition.
Developing an original project with a clear logic storyline and diverse characters wasn’t too challenging according to Shaver. but getting the quality of the show was the most difficult part.
“I think the challenging part was getting in creating quality work. I had to cut and trim a lot of stuff myself,” Shaver said. “Doing this work with a knife is always tricky.”
After graduation, Shaver plans to build his freelance design work from home for a year or so. He will then seek work and look for jobs in Ohio or Kansas afterwards.
Schutz, a Pittsburgh resident, is also a Visual Communication Design student. She rebranded a hometown ice cream business “Remember When” with logo, menus, product containers, and other supplemental marketing materials.
Based on the concept, Schutz included blue in the current color scheme. She also created an 8-foot-tall soft serve ice cream cone to highlight the well-known “memory cone” which is a large soft serve ice cream that can only be served out the side door.
“My friend actually owns this ice cream shop and they are in the process of moving the location, so I thought it was perfect for me to take the opportunity to assist,” said Schutz.
“Their current color scheme is their iconic pink because their entire old building is pink and white. They told me that they wanted to incorporate a blue theme as well, so I played along with it. I took the pink and did a bunch of different shades, give it more minimal and some gray colors for the logo and the iconic cones.”
Schutz has been working at Williams Lea in Wheeling, W.Va. since June, and she will keep the position after graduating.
Dean of the College of Arts and Communication Dr. Mathew Harder, also took the opportunity to announce the resignation of Robert Villamagna, former director of Nutting Gallery, at the Senior Show opening.
Villamagna retired from teaching art in 2017 and remained Nutting Gallery director after retirement.
In honor of Villamagna, his former students presented their illustrations of him at the opening. This surprise was organized by Art Professor Moonjung Kang.
The Senior Exhibition also includes artworks from Drawing 101 and other art classes.
The Nutting Gallery is located in the Hall of Fine Arts and is open to the public. Hours are from 8:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m., Monday – Friday through Dec. 12.