The Bardo Fine Arts Museum unveiled its 2025 senior portfolio exhibition with a reception of laughter and camaraderie. While the students attaining their Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees described their commitment to their process, their work spoke to their dedication to their craft.
With an expected turn out of 60, expectations were blown out of the water when the list of attendees doubled to 120. Students, their families, and staff allcame to celebrate and congratulate each other. Their expectations were blown out of the water on Nov. 13, with around 120 people in attendance, all present to view the eye-catching talents of these hard-working graduating seniors.
The exhibit brought together a community of artists, art lovers, family, and the key figures who inspired these seniors to create these artworks. Not only did the loved ones of the artists push them, but the students also pushed each other to create pieces they were proud to display to the world as they take their final steps to graduation.
Students were excited to see their work on display, as well as relieved too have all their hard work pay off. Marketing manager for the Bardo Art Center, Rachel Hood, said, “…they cultivate all their learnings they’ve had from the past four or three years at school, and now they’re here and they get here and kind of get to explore the things they want.”
This reception began at 5 p.m. following student presentations. During the reception, students displayed their works and explained their creative process, and experiences that drove them to create their passionate works of art.
One student spoke about the reason he decided to use the medium of charcoal drawing to express his ideas. Jonah Gillen, a graduating senior of Fine Arts, had three pieces displayed in this exhibition. All three of his pieces were inspired by his prior desire to have perfect details in his pictures. He had a realization that not everything has to be perfect. He is interested in having people complete his art rather than giving the viewer every aspect.
“I think it’s really interesting, you know, you have someone looking at this piece, right, and not all of the detail is there, so they have to put parts of their subconsciousness into the piece to get the picture out,” Gillen said.
The biggest driving factor for many of these artists is their past experiences or aspirations for the future. Charleston Reagan, a senior in fine arts, had three pieces displayed in the exhibition. Her abstract work showed her experiences with her family. All pieces focused on a different member of her family and the feelings surrounding them. She said her biggest piece represented her mother, and the spheres surrounding the abstract centerpiece were different emotions from moments they shared together.
The Bachelor of Fine Art Portfolio Exhibition 2025 will conclude on Dec. 5. This exhibition holds multi-media works from 17 people. The Bardo Fine Art Museum is free and open to the public during regular business hours, Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is open until 7 p.m. on Thursday.
See more photos from the exhibit below.
