By Greg Morgan

The end of the semester is approaching fast. For many students, May is the beginning of a new journey that will test everything they’ve learned during their time at Mesa State. These students are the May 2010 graduates, of which eight are art majors. They are preparing to leave Mesa and head out into the real world. But they have one last milestone to cross before graduation: the Senior Art Show.
The 2010 Mesa State Senior Art Show opened March 19 in the Johnson Art Gallery. Lauren Ohlson is one of the eight students showing work in the show. For art majors like Ohlson, the Senior Art Show is one last chance to showcase their talents before they graduate.
“This show is seen as a senior capstone for studio art majors, so there’s a lot of work and pride that goes into putting it up,” Ohlson said. “It’s supposed to be very specific as to what each individual senior can put together as far as a unified work or theme.”
The show also allows the students to display the progress they have made as artists.
“The biggest change I’d say is that I’ve become more confident and more focused on where I want to concentrate my energy,” Ohlson said.
Considering all the given aspects of the show, it possibly can be considered the most diverse senior art show Mesa students have produced.
“This is a really interesting show because we as a group cover all the bases of studio art that Mesa State offers, but we have a very small group of individuals,” Ohlson said. “Also the subject matter, themes, and moods are incredibly unique and incredibly different from anybody else in the show.”
The show includes oil paintings, prints, drawings, fibers/fabrics, ceramics, and bronze and stone sculptures.
Ohlson’s works on display at the show seek to explore her views of society’s functionality.
“The predominate idea with my work is that we as a society break our lives down into little sections,” Ohlson said, “and when we try to put them back together as a whole they don’t quite fit together.”
Ohlson says she likes to let her audience make their own interpretations of her work.
“Part of my work as an artist is caught up in the actual making of the artwork,” she said.
The Senior Art Show is being displayed at the Western Colorado Center for the Arts alongside the Mesa State Student Art Show, a rare opportunity for one to attend and see two different art shows, but both full of original works by Mesa students.
Admission is $3 for non-students or free with a Mesa State student I.D. The Senior Art Show is open to the public and ends on April 10.