WEST LIBERTY, W.Va., April 24, 2018 — The end of each semester at West Liberty University means that senior Visual Communication Design and Art Education majors showcase their talents in a final exhibit in the Nutting Gallery, located in the Fine Arts building, as they complete their respective degree programs.
This spring, six students have their work on display: DeVante Brown, Megan Sayre, Courtney Carter, Carrie Kaluger, Maricris Pangilinan and Elizabeth Springer. They will showcase their work from April 18 to May 10.
The coming together of each individual senior project is a process that takes lots of time, effort, and perhaps a few tears as each student works over the course of the semester to put their ideas together.
Carter, a visual communication design major from Wheeling, is one of these students. After graduation, she plans on staying in the local area to help local businesses. In total, Carter believes her project took over 100 hours to produce.
Carter’s final work consists of consists of three animated infographics about three fruits: strawberries, avocados, and pineapples. “Animated infographics are just videos that gives the information in an engaging way; as in, it moves across the screen,” Carter said of her project. “The project idea actually came from a previous assignment I did for one of my classes. I had to create an animated infographic and I did it on watermelons. I loved the project and it made me want to create a series of fruit infographics long before the exhibition, so it all kind of worked out.”
Carter also said, “I want to make learning fun. I want my audience to learn something new and show it in an interesting way that will make them remember, and this project allows me to do that. That, I think, is part of the reason why I really took to animated infographics in the first place.”
Kaluger, another visual communications design major who hopes to go into fine art photography and editorial design, said she is inspired by Columbus photographer Nick Fancher. Kalauger, who is from Shadyside, Ohio, displays work consisting of six color photographs on the wall and an accompanying booklet to educate viewers on color theory.
“I hope my project makes people stop and think about color and why it is so important in our everyday lives. Color plays a very important role in our lives, yet it gets overlooked by so many people. I want to educate them on why color is important and how it works to draw people in,” said Kaluger.
“I’ve done a lot research on everything from different photography techniques, to proper lighting for this style of photography, to color theory,” said Kalauger. “I’ve had lots of nights with little to no sleep because I’ve been working on every aspect of this project.”
Another senior showcasing work is Pangilinan, a visual communication design major from Wheeling. Her project is titled ‘Creativity Abroad,’ an educational display designed for audiences ages 20-25.
For her project, Pangilinan believes she’s racked up more than 200 hours of work and countless meeting with professors since the beginning of the semester, but she believes it is worth it.
“In my life, I have been blessed to be able to travel to other countries with my family. My travels have allowed me to experience a variety of cultures, diversity, languages, traditions, and art. This has inspired me to go with the project ‘Creativity Abroad.’ The two passions of travel and art merge into a project. I decided to make a book full of informational facts and creativity information on why you should travel abroad,” said Pangilinan, who plans to work in the Pittsburgh area.
Sayre is a digital media design major and a photography and advertising communications minor from Parkersburg, W.Va. She plans on being a video production or multimedia, digital content manager for a company.
Sayre is a photographer by nature, having been taking pictures since she was 10 years old, and said, “As a photographer, I see and capture a lot of staged moments, but the raw and natural moments are my favorite and the most important to me. Most of the things that I photographed each set of hands doing are quite ordinary. Some might not consider them as moments worthy of being photographed, but I do. I have found that it’s important to take time to appreciate the ordinary and capture the little moments, which is why I chose to pursue this project. I hope that people will see that when they look at my work.”
Sayre was also inspired by her grandmother, “One day I was watching my grandmother cook in her kitchen and decided to get my camera out and start photographing her hands unstaged as she worked. I was so happy with the results that I decided to expand the series into my senior capstone. I am also dedicating my project to her because she has been a huge inspiration to me throughout my life and she actually bought me my very first camera when I was 10 years old.”
Sayre’s project consists of thirty-two black and white photographs, matted and hung in the gallery to resemble a photographer’s dark room. For these seven students, this exhibit is a final chance to showcase not only their talents, but hundreds of hours dedicated to projects that most have worked on since the beginning of the semester.
The Nutting Gallery hours are 8:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.