BFA Exit Exhibition showcases graduating UGA art students’ talents | Arts & Culture
Among a bustling crowd of friends, family and guests, members of the University of Georgia Lamar Dodd School of Art’s graduating class showcased their art at this year’s first BFA Exit Exhibition Party on April 8.
The party was held to celebrate the opening of the BFA Exit Exhibition, a gallery featuring art created and curated by the students. Their art, which includes pottery, fabrics, paintings, drawings, sculpture and more, is the culmination of their academic time at UGA.
At the beginning of the fall and spring semesters, Dodd’s graduating class is split in half. Then toward the end of the semester, each section is given one week for their work to be displayed in galleries across the art school’s main building.
Admission to the exhibition is free and open during regular building hours. The first exhibition will be open until Friday, April 15. The second exhibition will open on April 22 and will be accompanied by its own party as well.
“The opening is really like the bread and butter of the art school,” said Brittainy Lauback, the event organizer and students’ instructor.
The students’ experience with their projects are as varied as the art itself. Some finished their pieces in a few weeks, while others worked over much longer periods of time.
Sydney Weigand, one of the student artists, even spent spring break working on her collection.
“So many nerves,” Weigand said, a few days before the opening. “I’m so worried everyone is going to hate my work.”
Drawing and painting major Eric Martin’s piece is displayed in this spring’s BFA Exit Exhibition. Martin’s piece features an American flag, the Arch and other elements. (Photo/Eric Martin)
But the exhibition is also an opportunity to share their work with the public in a way other artists might only hope for. Eric Martin, a drawing and painting major whose work is in the exhibition, explained that even local galleries are hard to get into.
“I think everybody is excited by the prospect of having their stuff up on the wall,” Martin said. “It’s pretty difficult to get into a show around town.”
To senior Amy Strand, the project was a commitment, but never a burden.
“There was this sense that I need to put myself into [the art] and I need to release myself from it,” Strand said.
Senior Amy Strand’s piece features a bird on a chair. This piece was featured within the BFA Exit Exhibition, a gallery of graduating art students’ work at the University of Georgia’s Lamar Dodd School of Art. (Photo/Amy Strand)
Ultimately, the BFA Exit Exhibition is a turning point in the students’ college careers — it’s a sign that their time at UGA is coming to an end. It offers them a chance not only to look back at their college experience, but to look ahead as well.
“That’s a really enjoyable feeling, very like, ‘end of the 12 mile run,’” Martin said. “[I’m] just catching my breath, and to see it all cohesively together is what I’m really enjoying about today.”
In Weigand’s case, the coming of the exhibition left her feeling sentimental, but excited. For Martin, his thoughts were on the future and a potential career in art therapy.
“If I can use this as a jumping-off point to help other veterans like myself deal with PTSD and traumatic brain injuries, stuff that we bring home from war zones — if I can help anybody with art therapy, that’s what I would enjoy most doing in the future,” Martin said.
Strand’s outlook was simple, but poignant.
“I think in the future I just want to paint whatever I want to paint that day,” Strand said.
