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BFA exhibition lets undergrads put spotlight on best work By
Kevin King
One of the ways that students with degrees in the bachelor of fine arts program overcome this obstacle is with an exhibition. Graduating seniors with BFA degrees hold an annual exhibition. In the BFA Exhibition students show two or three selections of their best work from the program. The exhibition covers all of the studio of arts areas of emphasis. They include art education, ceramics, drawing, graphic design, illustration, painting, photography, printmaking and sculpture.
The director of the exhibition, Professor Tom Toone, has been in charge of the BFA Exhibition for the last two years. "It's nice to see the show come together,² said Toone, "to see all of the students' hard work pay off." Each student's work for the show is selected by the student's faculty adviser and the students themselves. This procedure shows the scrutiny that students' work must go through before it can get exhibited. The BFA exhibition is unique -- the entire production of the exhibit comes from these students. For example, they hang or construct things to display the pieces of art, they organize, produce, design the layout, write artists statements and provide the funding for a catalog describing the exhibition. The bachelors of fine arts degree is different than a basic bachelors degree in art. The BFA degree requires an additional 20 semester credit hours. Among those credits students are required to complete the BFA course before they can graduate. In addition to an increased number of credit hours, BFA students must also maintain a GPA of at least 2.75. Most of the students who are graduating with a BFA are either going to pursue careers as professional artists or continue on to graduate school. A BFA degree is required for entrance into almost all graduate schools of Art. "It's kind-of a capstone for these students to see their work exhibited," said Craig Law, the art department head. Michelle Birch is a BFA student in photography. She photographs landscapes that use natural light filtered by trees and other objects to define her subject. "I'm a huge fan of the natural landscape and try to capture its present beauty because its future is so uncertain" said Birch. She said that at last year's exhibition many people wanted to purchase some of the students' work, but many students were unprepared to do this. This year we hope to organize it better so students can sell their work at the exhibit. The bachelors of fine arts degree became one of the choices available from the department of art in 1967. Students wanting to graduate with a BFA degree have been required to have an exhibition of their work since 1977. However, an exhibition that has included all the areas of emphasis from studio arts combined in one exhibition has only been showing for approximately five years.
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