The artwork of three Park University seniors is currently on display in the Campanella Gallery in the McAfee Library.

The student exhibit includes digital prints, photography and small-scale graphite drawings.

A reception was held Tuesday night to celebrate their accomplishments.

Andrew McEachron, a secondary education major, displayed a collection of his drawings titled “Conversations in Graphite,” which depicts and captures moments of everyday life and conversations between people from his perspective on campus.

What started as observational drawings around Parkville turned into the main focus of his exhibit.

“This started off as a way to get me drawing again,” he said. “I hadn’t drawn for a few years while doing my education courses. The original plan was to come up with an idea based on the drawings, but once I realized all the work I had accumulated, I thought, ‘this is my show,’ and it evolved on its own.”

McEachron said that Park has aided his journey towards his art in several ways.

“Park University has helped my artwork because Park is my artwork,” he said. “It’s on display in my drawings. Park has helped in my abilities as well as providing a subject for my show.”

Kristy Sumpter, fine arts major, revealed her exhibit titled “Blooming Explorations,” a series of black-and-white photographs of lilies, illustrating the flow of the petals against a black background.

“I am really interested in the movement of things,” she said. “I’ve done different flowers other than lilies, but I kept going back to the lilies; I think they portray fantastic movement, the tones are beautiful and they photograph very nicely. I started playing with lighting and the arrangement and it blossomed from there.”

Sumpter said that studying at Park has helped direct her toward her passion.

“Classes this semester sparked that desire that I’ve had before. I wasn’t sure where to go next, but once I started, I realized, this is why I came here. This is why I keep going.”

Brooke Sherrill, a secondary education major, presented her exhibit titled “Look to See,” a collection of digital prints which portray a multi-layered space through change in color and shape.

“My goal was to make a game for the viewer where you have the same design but with simple changes as far as whether it’s rotated or has different color, which makes it appear different,” she said. “I’m more drawn to shapes, colors, and lines.”

Sherrill said that her experience at Park has contributed to reaching her goals with her artwork.

“My seminar class really helped me progress with self-editing,” she said. “Being able to self-assess yourself as you’re going and getting to the end goal that you want. Mr. Larose and my other classmates helping me make those editing choices helps my work stand out and be the best of what I want it to be.”

The student exhibit will be on display in the Campanella Gallery in the McAfee Library from now through Tuesday, Jan. 6.

For more information about the exhibit, contact Matthew LaRose, chair of Park’s Department of Art and Design, at [email protected].