PC Senior Art Majors Showcase Works at Harper Gallery

PC Senior Art Majors Showcase Works at Harper Gallery

Presbyterian College senior art majors Joshua Polk of Atlanta, Jennifer Marshall of Spring Hill, Fla., and Wippawadee Naiyakhum of Charlotte, N.C., will display their art at the 2014 Senior Art Exhibit March 14-April 28 in the Elizabeth Stone Harper Gallery.

The exhibit is part of the trio’s senior capstone experience in the studio art program at PC. The Gallery, located in the Harper Center for the Arts, exhibits a wide array of internationally known artists and art exhibits. It is an integral learning tool for the Art Department and brings with it a notable cultural enrichment experience to the PC campus, the Clinton community and Southeast region at large.

The College’s art curriculum is designed to help students develop a unique sense of artistic style and vision. This results in a great deal of variety in style and approach when it comes to student artwork, said Ralph Paquin, chair of the PC Art Department.

“The art faculty is proud of the diversity, quality and skill development of these three seniors. We are excited to celebrate and share their accomplishments with the community,” said Paquin.

Approximately 25 works consisting of an array of mediums from drawings, oil, watercolor, prints, digital and mixed media will be featured in the exhibit.

Marshall is a senior art major who is minoring in art history and athletic coaching. The daughter of Joseph and Laurie Marshall of Spring Hill, Fla., she is a catcher for the PC softball team.

Marshall describes her art as “clearly abstract and rather brightly colored. Art is a way for me to express myself in color while I remain quiet.”  In the future, she hopes to return to focusing more on graphic design, which is her first love, especially in the sports field, designing items such as posters banners, media guides.

Naiyakhum, the daughter of Sirirat Theerachayavaranont of North Fort Myers, Fla., grew up in Thailand until her family moved to the States when she was 13. Although she didn’t take her first art class until high school, “Art has always been my escape” Naiyakhum said. She took another art class in college, but it wasn’t until she completed a few more classes that she became sure that she wanted to major in art and realized that it had become her passion.

“My paintings are representations of my inner thoughts” Naiyakhum said. “They express what life means to me. I believe life is organized chaos, not meant to be understood, but to be appreciated.” She has worked in the PC’s art gallery both her junior and senior years and one day hopes to have an art gallery of her own and curate shows.

Polk, son of Gregory and Valarie Polk and Susan Carty, is from Atlanta. A senior at PC, Polk is an art major and art history minor. He is a defensive end on PC’s football team and an active member of the Multicultural Student Union.

Polk said his artwork is “a strong blend of figures and emotion, captured in the most intense of movements and matched with the most dynamic of colors, creating wonderful stories. Every art piece has a story and a motive behind it.”

Polk’s dream is to work as a senior graphic designer for a Fortune 500 company and one day design the Olympic Logo.

Gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday, excluding holidays. For more information, contact Stoddard at 864.833.8635 or visit the website at www.presby.edu/art.

Founded in 1880, Presbyterian College is a Carnegie One liberal arts college and is fully accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The institution confers B.A. and B.S. degrees in 32 courses of study, including art, and nine pre-professional programs including pre-law, pre-med, pre-pharmacy and pre-theological.

In May, the college’s School of Pharmacy will graduate its first class. For more information about Presbyterian College, visit www.presby.edu.

 

—PC—