Shwayder Art Building’s Victoria H. Myhren Gallery echoed with the voices of over a hundred observers above the live music of DU jazz band Quarro on Thursday evening from 5-7 p.m. for the 2013 Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition.

The exhibition is held every year in celebration of the accomplishments of senior BFA students in the Studio Art and Emergent Digital Practices programs. This year’s exhibition featured seniors Minga Chang from Calabasas, Calif., Mike Charlie from Fort Collins, Ryan Hatfield from Albany, N.Y., Weston Lilly from Scituate, Mass., Racheal McGinnis from Sun Valley, Idaho, Eric Schneider from Houston, Texas, Sally Tanner from Charlotte, N.C. and Kari Varner from Overland Park, Kan.

The exhibition functions as an opportunity for graduating students to display their artwork in a professional gallery setting and embody their final creations as DU art students. These artworks—which included paintings on canvas, a variety of works on paper, interactive sculptures and videos—were the most recent creations of the BFA students. The projects were supposed to be planned and implemented by the end of winter quarter.

The gallery opening offered free food and beverages to attendees. Jazz band Quarro set up in the foyer, providing lively atmosphere and authenticity to the gallery setting. Art enthusiasts, supportive peers and family members milled about the spacious gallery, offering encouragement, critique and interaction with certain works.

Exhibitioner Minga Chang’s medium was a combination of grey pen and white gel pen on paper, through which she created delicate and spontaneous shapes and lines.

Chang explained the process of discovering her concept for the BFA show as well as the goals of her artwork. Chang emphasized that her work came out of a great deal of experimentation with positive outcomes.

“I randomly started scribbling on the back of one of my pieces and ended up liking it,” she said. “I tried to make [my art] more spontaneous. People kept saying it was getting predictable. I made a rule for myself to follow that it was all about the process and not the end result.”

Ryan Hatfield worked with oil on canvas, creating expansive scenes by combining a variety of colors, shapes, animals and human figures.

His 7×10 square foot painting entitled “Beaching the Whale” depicted colorful human figures surrounding a whale with an obscured horizon in the distance.

Hatfield discussed the challenges and benefits of working on such a large scale.

“This is the largest I’ve ever worked,” he said. “It’s kind of intimidating. It’s also freeing because it’s a lot looser and you don’t have to worry about space.”

Rachael McGinnis also worked on a large-scale. Her 6×6, 6×7 and 9×6 oil on canvas portraits greeted viewers with their magnitude from the gallery wall opposite the entrance. Her pieces explored makeup as an enhancement for women and simultaneously celebrated flaws in depictions of the female face, according to her artist statement.
McGinnis expressed the relief she felt at finally having reached the day of the exhibition.

“It’s really exciting,” she said. “I’m amazed at how many people came. I’ve been staring at these paintings for months so it’s definitely nice to see it as a finished production. It’s here, it’s finished.”

Dan Jacobs, who is the first full-time director of the Myhren Gallery, expressed a similar enthusiasm. Jacobs guided first-year graduate student, Kelly Flemister from Chattanooga, Tenn. to curate the show by working closely with the senior arts majors.

“The quality of the students’ work every year is getting better. This exhibition is a really nice occasion for the end of the year,” said Jacobs.

The event bustled with positive energy and respectful interactions between students, professors and interested onlookers. Exhibitors offered bittersweet hugs and received kind words of congratulations.

One piece in particular generated attention from the gallery-goers. Mike Charlie explored theatricality in his wooden kinetic sculpture, which housed a selection of narrative drawings that could be revealed in succession only by turning a large crank. Charlie himself, in a blazer and top hat, became an extension of the interactive sculpture as he turned the crank to the fascination of onlookers. The piece focused on the rewarding results of working to overcome hardship.

Charlie invited spectators to engage in turning the crank, thus creating dependence and teamwork between the viewer and the “exhibitionist.”

Other pieces including videos, sonic installations and zinc plate embossed works explored questions of personal identity, isolation and the transience and mutability of memory, according to Jacobs.

A juried exhibition of BA graduates’ work was also held in the lobby and basement of Schwayder Art Building in Gallery 023. This exhibition included a variety of mediums including photography, ceramics, oil on canvas and mixed media sculptural works.

The next step for graduating art majors is integrating their artistic visions into a non-academic setting.

Chang described her post- graduation plans.

“I’m probably going to take a year or two off and work before applying for grad school,” she said.

The exhibition will continue through June 7 in the Myhren Gallery. The gallery is open from 12-4 p.m. Monday through Sunday.