Senior Thesis Exhibitions Begin April 1

March 15, 2011

Watkins College of Art, Design & Film is pleased to invite the public to the first of five Bachelor of Fine Arts Senior Thesis Exhibitions celebrating the work of students graduating this May. The first show will feature Cristina Viscu, Melanie Clay and Gary White. This exhibition will run from April 1 – 6. An opening reception will be held on campus on Friday, April 1 from 6-9pm. Both the reception and exhibition are free and open to the public.

Cristina Viscu is a Fine Art degree candidate. Originally from Chisinau, Moldova, she moved to Nashville when she was 15 for an exchange program and was accepted to Watkins at the age of 16. Her exhibition, Extropy,features works about human perception that entice visual senses and perspective. The work featured is mixed media between photographs and sculptures with reflective qualities and subtle alterations of everyday objects. According to the artist, the romanticism and reflective qualities of the work create a shift in an ongoing abstraction, leaving the work in constant conversation with the viewer.

Originally from Homer, Alaska, senior Melanie Clay has been in Nashville for six years. She originally fell in love with Nashville after undergoing experimental radiation treatment therapy from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. Clay, a Photography major, will exhibit work that is a unique mixture of photography, drawing and use of intriguing mediums that are personal to her. Her exhibition, Growth By Division Beyond the Normal Limits, is an investigation of the human body and illness, as well as the potential of memory in the body. Having dealt with a rare cancer at a young age, the artist draws inspiration from biological cell make-up and is led into a dialogue about the chasm that is created from the betrayal of the body. Clay is on the road to earn her Masters Degree in Art Therapy. She will be the first person in her immediate family to earn a college degree.

Fine Art major Gary White, a lifelong Nashville resident, will present Ever Present.His work focuses on the “Other” in Southern culture and the issues and history that are unique to this culture. His exhibition will feature oil paintings, ceramic sculpture and mixed media work.