The UA Department of Art and Art History presents the Bachelor of Fine Arts in studio art degree group exhibition, April 30-May 4, 2024, in the Sella-Granata Art Gallery, Woods Hall. A reception for the artists will be on Thursday, May 2, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.
This exhibition showcases work by ten senior BFA degree candidates, demonstrating their broad mastery of learning in their primary and secondary concentrations as well as other media.
Cecily Downey, from Dothan, Alabama, presents the exhibition, “The Things We Leave Behind.” Her work was included in Lasting Impressions: Responses to the Paul R. Jones Collection by Printmaking 321, Souvenirs: Spain’s Influence on Student Artwork (SGAG) and Welcoming the Approach: Printmaking Processes at Capstone Village. Downey has a primary concentration in drawing and a secondary one in printmaking. She serves as the lead gallery worker in the Sella-Granata Art Gallery. Find her work on Instagram @cecilydowneyart.
Halle Jenkins presents the photographic exhibition, “The Existential Home,” which she writes “showcases the deeply intimate and personal connections and details I note obsessively throughout my day-to-day life.” She writes that she is “[infatuated] with the intricacies of private moments and intimacy.” Jenkins, who has been a photographer for six years, has a primary concentration in photography and a secondary one in digital media. Find her work on Instagram @halle_p_jenkins.
Drew Merriweather, from Mobile, Alabama, presents his exhibition, “Brown Sugar Land of the Gods.” His work was included in Souvenirs: Spain’s Influence on Student Artwork (SGAG). He was named to the Dean’s List, and was awarded the Elizabeth B. Bashinsky Endowed Art Scholarship; the Paul R. Jones Endowed Scholarship (twice); the Saint Luke Outstanding Art Student Award and the University Programs Persistence Award. He has held a graphic design internship at Blue Fish Design and an internship in the Mobile County Summer Internship Program. Merriweather’s BFA primary concentration is in digital media and secondary one is in drawing. Find his work here.
VJ Morrow, from Tuscaloosa, presents his exhibition, “Acrylic Stories.” His primary concentration is in painting and secondary one is in digital media.
Samantha Norris presents the exhibition, “Moth Holes,” a culmination of year-long ceramic sculpture project also incorporating felting. “Moth Holes” was supported by a UA ASSURE grant and Norris gave a presentation about the process at the 2024 URCA Conference. Her work focuses on her relationship with her younger self. “I channel these memories into ceramic work consisting of sculptural pieces made through an innocent lens.” Norris, whose primary concentration is in ceramics and secondary one is in sculpture, has worked as a foundry specialist at the UA Foundry since 2022, designing and fabricating projects for clients including the City of Tuscaloosa and Nucor, and incorporating skills such as welding, metal casting, and woodworking. Norris has been awarded numerous scholarships including Rising Tide, Elizabeth B. Bashinsky and the Farley Moody Galbraith. She received the 2024 Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (URCA) Conference Award for Excellence and Achievement and the department’s academic highest honor: the 2024 Outstanding Undergraduate BFA Student Award in Studio Art. Find her work on Instagram @wow.ok.art.
Alyssa Serena, from Trussville, Alabama, presents the exhibition, “Shadows, Spirits, and Echoes.” Through media such video, photography, painting, Serena writes that her work “explores situational and relational factors in the development of an individual’s sense of self. These installations reveal the layered process of interviewing, studying, and repeating certain situations for the subject. I want to discover and represent whether an individual’s purpose is always changeable, or if it could reach a point of stability.” Her primary concentration is in digital media and secondary one is in painting. As an undergraduate, Serena was named to the UA President’s List every semester and awarded the Farley Moody Galbraith Endowed Scholarship, the Vernon & Eugenia Rutledge Scholarship, and the Elizabeth B. Bashinsky Art Scholarship. She will pursue a Master’s in Business Administration this fall. Find Serena’s work on Instagram @alyssaserena.art.
Braxton Smith, from Hoover, Alabama, presents the exhibition, “Indigenous Landscapes and Structures in Alabama,” a photographic, research-based exploration of the interrelationship of the ecological stewardship and family history he was taught by his parents and the history of Alabama’s native peoples. Smith’s project, which features a photo book, prints, and a video, was supported by a 2024 UA ASSURE grant and he gave a presentation about his research at the 2024 URCA Conference. Smith was named to the Dean’s List for four semesters and the President’s List two semesters, was an Alabama Promise Scholarship Recipient. Smith, whose primary concentration is in digital media and secondary is in photography, holds a graphic design internship at the Alabama International Trade Center.
SK Steen, from Nashville, presents the exhibition, “Cirque du Eskeille.” Steen uses a variety of media – textiles, paint, ink, charcoal, and printmaking processes – through texture, color, layering and patterning to depict the human experience, especially the past and present of her own life and the world around her. “Ultimately,” Steen writes, “my work is a way for me to process and explore life and hopefully help others do the same.” Her work was included in Lasting Impressions: Responses to the Paul R. Jones Collection by Printmaking 321, Souvenirs: Spain’s Influence on Student Artwork and Welcoming the Approach: Printmaking Processes at Capstone Village. She has been awarded Elizabeth B. Bashinsky Endowed Art Scholarship, Barbara Ann Taylor Guthans Endowed Scholarship, Galbraith Endowed Art Scholarship, and the Bradley Endowed Scholarship. Steen’s primary concentration is in printmaking and secondary is in drawing. Find her work on Instagram @artby_sk or here.
Aisley Walaitis, from St. Louis, Missouri, presents the exhibition, “Consumption.” Her primary concentration is painting and secondary one is ceramics. Walaitis writes that she “uses her media to express a profound connection with the natural world.” She creates self-portraits, often in a natural setting. “Self-portraiture allows me to explore the relationship between plant and person while using my likeness to examine themes of identity, mental health, and the past.” Walaitis was awarded the Mary M. Morgan Memorial Art Scholarship. She was one of four featured artists in the 2023 SGA Student Artwork Exhibition and participated in the senior painting majors’ Painting Pop-Up Exhibition in January 2024. She is on Instagram @artbyaisley.
Jane Zhao, from Birmingham, presents the exhibition, “You Will Watch Me Die.” Zhao’s work in this show, she writes, “focuses on her emotional and mental response to traumatic memories of a calm figure…unaffected by the surrounding dark and chaotic space.” Zhao describes her process as digitally painting “with soft brushes using harsh and sporadic lines and mark-making.” Her primary concentration is in digital media and secondary is in drawing. Find Zhao’s work on Instagram @jowenjiart or here.
The Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art is the professional degree for the artist and prepares students to go directly into a career. The department offers both the BFA in studio art degree and the BFA in graphic design degree. The BFA is also the foundation for the master’s program in studio art at UA and lays the groundwork for more advanced studies toward the Master of Arts and Master of Fine Arts degrees.
Hours for the Sella-Granata Art Gallery are Monday through Thursday 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. when school is in session. The gallery, located in 109 Woods Hall on 7th Avenue, UA campus in Tuscaloosa, features student exhibitions as well as visiting artists and is an essential part of the education and development of UA students and our community.