BFA and MFA Exhibitions Currently on Display at Prairie Center of the Arts and Bradley Art Galleries

04/27/2012 5:30 PM

By Ivy Hillman ’12

BFA Exhibitions have been on display at Prairie Center of the Arts since April 11 and will continue until May 12.  MFA Thesis Exhibitions began May 1 and will continue until May 13.  Several Slane students are involved and enjoying the publicity they are getting out of the events.

Damon Taylor put a lot of work into his BFA Exhibition.

“My exhibition was the culmination of my four years of study at Bradley, as well as the realization of a body of work that I have been developing for the last eight months,” Taylor said. “The spring semester was dominated by preparing our advertising materials, posters, show cards, and other materials, and then ultimately finalizing preparations for our installations.”

Taylor’s group began installing their exhibit just three days before it began.

“The body of work that I developed for this show consisted of silk screen prints of abstracted landscapes that pulled largely from my memories,” Taylor said.

Taylor’s exhibition could not have been more successful.  He sold 18 pieces, both framed and unframed works, and his sales have continued. His group has since moved their exhibition to Blue, a neighborhood bar on Main Street.

“This exhibition has officially taken its place as my proudest moment of college, if not my life at large,” Taylor said. “As I prepare to leave college, this whole process has left me filled with confidence in my abilities and my future in my chosen career.”

Taylor will begin an internship in May with Piney Woods Fine Arts Association in Texas, and he will be applying for graduate school in the fall of 2013. 

Sarah Zaleski and Sara Stewart are both participating in the MFA Thesis Exhibitions. Zaleski’s show consists of ceramics based on memories of a toy called “Willy the Water Bug.”

“The installation contains four different elements from this memory that are abstracted,” Zaleski said. “They include the water bug form, grass, water hoses, and water bubbles. Parts of the installation are faint and mute, while others are loud and bright. 

Zaleski plans to include images from her show in her portfolio that she will use in her job search.

Stewart’s exhibition, called “Disorder,” comes from her last three years in Bradley’s MFA program.  Her works were created on paper using gouache, ink, graphite, sewing, spray paint, collage, marker, and print media.

“Pretty much anything used to make a piece is fair game in my mind,” Stewart said.

The exhibition style is new to Stewart, and she hopes for her future to be similar.

“It is an opportunity to see an idea come to fruition in a very satisfying manner,” Stewart said. “I have actually never had so many pieces shown at 

Join us for a series of BFA exhibitions at Prairie Center of the Arts April 11 – May 12, 2012.  

Theresa Stoodley, Hillary Ray, Jacob Weise
BFA Exhibition: April 11th-15th
Reception: April 14th, 5:00-7:00pm