During the Elmhurst College Art Department’s Spring Capstone Art Exhibition, nine senior art students will explore a variety of compelling and often personal themes, from a fascination with the supernatural to creating the persona and marketing materials for an R&B band.
The high point for every graduating art major, the capstone exhibition requires students to create a body of work in their area of concentration, then plan their exhibition and design all of the promotional materials for it.
The Spring Capstone Art Exhibition runs from Saturday, May 4, through Saturday, June 1, in the Barbara A. Kieft Accelerator ArtSpace and the Founders Lounge of the Frick Center.
About the artists:
- Taylor Lutz, of Decatur, Mich., loves outer space and the supernatural, so her capstone project was a marriage of the two—a space-themed deck of 22 tarot cards, along with packaging and branding.
- Kristina Olsson, of Oak Brook, created a custom Monopoly board game around the theme of literary classics.
- Tara Flatley, of Frankfort, combined her passions—art and music—to create the concept and marketing materials for an alternative/R&B-inspired band.
- Brookston Perschke, of Angola, Ind., redesigned the book covers for eight of her favorite novels, also creating a publishing company logo and deliverables for the publishing company.
- Kera Bjerga, of Lombard, created five art pieces—using recycled and donated materials—inspired by experiences from her life, and related to her efforts as a young adult to live independently.
- Hannah Palmer, of Bloomingdale, decided to create the identity, branding and merchandise for a camping music festival.
- Julia Madrid, of Carlsbad, Calif., created a climate change organization whose goal is to educate the public about the negative effects of climate change. She created a logo, magazine, website and posters for her organization.
- Nicholas Klein, of Glenview, designed creatures based on the 12 zodiac signs, focusing on “the worst and most terrifying” aspects of each astrological sign.
- The other participating student is Joseph Barrette, of Valparaiso, Ind.
A public reception for the artists will be held on May 4 from 5:30–6:30 p.m. in the Founders Lounge of the Frick Center; and from 6:30–7:30 p.m. in the Accelerator ArtSpace. The exhibition and reception are free and open to the public.
The Accelerator ArtSpace, built around a 20-foot-high particle accelerator dating back to the 1950s, is open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from noon to 4 p.m. The Accelerator ArtSpace will be closed from May 26–31.
The capstone exhibition is one of about a dozen art shows that Elmhurst College hosts each academic year in two campus venues. In addition, the College’s A.C. Buehler Library permanently houses the College’s unparalleled collection of Chicago Imagist and Abstractionist Art, which explores the vibrant, often outrageous, yet precisely crafted works of Chicago artists between 1950 and the present.