In a culminating celebration of graduating art students, Weber State University will host the 2018 Spring BFA Thesis Exhibition’s opening ceremonies on April 20 at 7 p.m. The exhibit will run until May 5.
This collection’s purpose is to display the capstone work of students pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in the Department of Visual Art and Design at Weber State.
This event will showcase the soon-to-be graduates’ best art and design work.
The 18 students whose work will be presented are:
Creelyssa R. Belnap
Kimberly Carlson
Shawn Espinosa
James Mitchell Evertsen
Zoe Hall
Alissa Hicks
Cassidy Johnson
Corrine Klc
Jaxsen Layton
Amber Leeds
Amber Peck
Tiffinny Potts
Christina Reekie
Jennifer Sacher
Marrissa Smith
Abby Van Ess
Deidre Wilson
Anna Young
Creelyssa Belnap
Belnap is a BFA student with an emphasis on 3D ceramics.
She began college at Dixie State University and graduated with an Associates with her focus on becoming a phycology major.
Soon, she found her way into a ceramics class on the Weber State campus, “and the teacher was severely disappointed in the fact that I wasn’t an art major. Then I just started coming back and I stayed,” Belnap said.
The thesis Belnap will present focuses on the female body, “and having the right to be comfortable and not being judged for what we look like.”
Belnap said her experience in the Weber Program was significant.
“I got to experience art from all over the world. It really helped influence a lot of the projects moving forward,” Belnap said.
The location of Weber State also inspired Belnap because of the close connection of art found in both Ogden and Salt Lake City.
With her own graduation on the horizon, Belnap emphasizes that new art students should be involved in the activities around campus, join Weber State’s Art Guild, and look out for tuition waivers.
She plans on teaching ceramics in the local area before earning her master’s to enable her to teach at the college level.
Belnap would like to thank Molly Morin, “who has always been an encouraging and an inspiration,” Matthew Choberka, and Steven Wolochowicz “because he encouraged me to come back to art after being gone for three years.”
The favorite piece of work made here at Weber State for Belnap were bottles inspired from her study abroad in Italy.
“The Study Abroad trip inspired these works, from the smells in the air to the wine tried with dinner,” said Belnap. “This project is a reflection of my experience and the environmental issues Venice is facing, from littering to the wear and tear on the city. The trip left me wanting to explore more of the world, and learn about more cultures.”
Tiffinny Potts
Tiffinny Potts is a BFA student with an emphasis on Graphic Design.
When Potts began college, she experimented with a few different careers but always has had a love for art.
“I wanted to focus more on being expressive … and creative,” Potts said.
For the BFA exhibit, all the graphic designers are working on a group project that displays “the ideal studio space of what it looks like when we’re working and the technology we use. So it’s a little bit different than the general art student,” Potts said.
Potts describes her experience at Weber State as unique, and how when she first began, many of her classmates had more technical experience than her.
Pott’s advice to future art majors is “to not compare yourself to others. Each artist is unique and has their own design. And don’t worry about being the best in the room. just worry about being the best you can be.”
Her future plans include joining a type of firm that is along the lines of Spark or Adobe.
Potts would like to highlight “Micah Bauer and Larry Clarkson who have been very good professors. They each have their own unique way of seeing things and in that aspect, they help build you up and just teach you their experiences. They have a lot of good advice for helping students through the program.”
Potts favorite piece was a board game she helped design, Vampire Destiny.
