The University of Maine at Presque Isle Fine Art Program faculty is pleased to announce that three solo shows developed through the 2012 Fine Art Senior Thesis Exhibition course will be hosted in April and May at the Pullen Art Gallery.

UMPI’s Fine Art Senior Thesis Exhibition, a six-credit, academic-year-long course, provides students with the kind of in-depth educational opportunity that most Art students never experience until they are in graduate school. In fact, UMPI’s Fine Art program is the only one in the entire State of Maine in which every senior must prepare for and host a one-person art exhibition of his or her work, and defend it orally and in writing, in order to graduate.

Three students will display their works during week-long shows held between April 20 and May 12. The exhibition schedule is as follows:

April 20 to 26 – Bryanne Thomas, Drawing

Reception will be held on Friday, April 20, 5 to 7 p.m.

April 27 to May 3 – Carolyn Anderson, Photography

Reception will be held on Friday, April 27, 5 to 7 p.m.

May 4 to 12 – Alanna Venturo, Painting-watercolor

Reception will be held on Friday, May 11, 5 to 7 p.m.

These Fine Art students have spent an entire academic year preparing for their shows. As part of the Fine Art Senior Exhibition course, Art students spend the fall semester of their senior year developing ideas and creating pieces for their shows. These pieces get critiqued by all 4 art professors and fellow senior art students, teaching students through real experiences how to talk about and defend their work. Some students go on to rework pieces, others to start new pieces, and still others to take a new direction altogether. By the end of the fall semester, seniors complete a short research paper and artist’s statement and host a mini-art show to prepare for their final show in the spring. They must present this show to their art professors and fellow students. Students must successfully complete the fall semester of this course in order to continue the course during the spring semester.

Beginning in the spring, seniors begin very focused work to prepare for their final shows and endure a rigorous critique schedule to aid them in this preparation. Students are responsible for preparing for every aspect of their exhibition – from making the frames and labels for their pieces, to advertising and promoting their show to the campus and community, to arranging for their art receptions (including food and music), to developing their final artist’s statement. During their actual show, seniors have to talk about their work, present their artist’s statement, and be able to answer audience questions. As a final component of this year-long project, students must turn in their final thesis, an in-depth research paper about their work and the art and artists that influenced it.

Members of the campus and community are invited to view each show that will be on display this spring in the Pullen Art Gallery and to attend all show receptions. For additional information, please contact Dr. Leo-Paul Cyr at 768-9609.