Roommates, by Ally Sedlock
Inspired by my own dad and dog, “Roommates” challenges who is the owner and who is the pet, as the dog character is more comparable to a human than the canine species. While we get a comedic look at their day to day lives, and how they get on each other’s nerves as all roommates do, at the end of the day, it is evident why they remain living together: they are best friends.
The Celestial Castle, Castle of Dreamers End, by Pen Anders
View the full, animated webcomic here.
The Celestial Castle is a short digitally illustrated comic and animation piece. In my work I often focus on themes such as escapism, mental health, and inner conflict. In The Celestial Castle I display this through a collection of short scenes in a narrative sequence. The aesthetic of the setting is meant to embrace dreamy qualities, emphasizing cool colors and fantasy, spacious skies and a castle larger than life with mysteries untold. As the character walks through this castle it is my hope that the viewer gets the sense of unreality, emptiness, and the undertones of something darker beneath. The character is meant to represent someone with their head in the clouds, someone who can’t or won’t face reality.
Escapism is a double edged sword. We use it to get away from our problems in the real world, to go somewhere better and find a spot of happiness in our lives. But when it gets carried away, it has potential to make living in the present that much harder. At what point have you gone too far? Where in the mind does reality separate from fantasy? My goal in this narration is to convey these types of emotions to the viewer, in the hope that they can somehow relate, or derive inspiration from it.
Invisible Pond, by Shawna Shroyer
Growing up in a rural area, spending time by the pond with friends was a staple of my childhood. I loved seeing the fish swim peacefully in the ponds around my hometown. The fish however, were very difficult to see as most ponds were very murky. I wanted so badly to be able to see all the way to the bottoms of the ponds and imagined what it would be like to see the fish in crystal clear water. I have created this installation in response to that feeling; a poetic water animation is projected as the participants walk around the single fish frozen in motion. The animation on the fish plays various aspects of my childhood imagination in relation to the fish. The use of paper is was inspired by paper festival lanterns and the limitless potentiality of the material.
JEMS, by Momo Zuroweste
My comic is a collection of short stories that I have gathered from my own life. Each individual story tackles a situation that happened within my life, however I represent myself through original characters that serve as extensions of certain exaggerated emotions. I then experiment with how those personalities play in to a situation. Sometimes it is how I reacted and sometimes it is how I wish I reacted. It all serves as a peace of mind and as a coping mechanism for myself.
Magic Map, by Alejandro Peregrina
Magic Map, encapsulates everything about animation and world-building that I love. It brings a fantasy world I created to life and allows the viewer to enter it with a magical map that invites you to take a closer look. With the combination of sound, physicality, and animation, The Magic Map immerses anyone who chooses to join its world.
Confetti, by Wendy Liu
Our lives are organized by small lists and artifacts, like receipts, planners, and to-do lists. “Confetti” was created amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. This project reflects the disorganization of time within a limited space over a long time period. As I was practicing social distancing within my home, I sought to examine the passage of personal and domestic time through the reconstruction of discarded paper. Paper from to-do lists, used planner pages, discarded projects, and food containers are some of the objects that appear in each sheet of paper. Titled “Confetti”, this project’s bright specks of colors are reminiscent of the little pieces of paper commonly seen during celebratory events. The lack of celebratory events resulting from social distancing has led to feelings of loneliness and isolation; however, as days passed, I began to realize that there are still many bright things happening inside a house that make the community stronger and healthier. This work highlights the vibrant specks of beauty and joy that still happens inside our home.
Congratulations to the graduating seniors in this class, whose artwork is exhibited in the online Bachelor of Fine Arts Senior Projects Exhibition at the Urban Arts Space
Ellen Baker ••• Amanda Buckeye ••• Song Chow ••• Hana Gregg ••• Youji Han ••• Clay Huber ••• Richard Katterjohn ••• Liam Manning ••• Amber Thompson ••• Taylor Woodie ••• Megan Wright ••• Visit their projects by clicking their names.
Short documentary videos of some of the students’ personal artmaking processes