草莓社区

Nine student artists have banded together to create 草莓社区鈥檚 first virtual senior exhibition, which will be unveiled on Friday, April 24. Professor Cyndi Gusler said that when the group got word in March that they wouldn鈥檛 be returning to campus for the semester, the photographers, illustrators, printmakers, videographers, and painters decided to adapt their material to be shown online.

Seniors Emily Young and Kiana Childress took the lead crafting the website, and all nine students met over Zoom to review and critique one another鈥檚 work. 

鈥淚t’s been a whirlwind of activity, but the group has shown resilience and creative problem solving along the way,鈥� Gusler said. The show will remain online through Sunday, May 3. 

See examples of their work below, and be sure to tune in to the digital gallery at .

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Sultan Alsulaiman

Alsulaiman is a digital media major from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He hopes to work in sports media. 

“Photography as an art has the ability to educate people about different cultures and give them general sense by documenting events and traditions using photos,” Alsulaiman said.

Alsulaiman鈥檚 photographs feature people wearing clothes from different cultures 鈥渢hat are strange to them 鈥� I think that coming to EMU from the Middle East has helped me to discover other cultures and thoughts. My photographs may help viewers broaden their acceptance of different cultures.鈥�

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Kiana Childress

Childress is a communications and photography double major, and intends to pursue her master鈥檚 degree at EMU after graduation.

鈥淚 truly believe that my purpose is to tell stories and connect with others using my strong communication and visual skills,鈥� Childress said. Her senior show, titled Cultural Inclusion in Infrared, was inspired by the visual elements of infrared portraiture.

鈥淥ne can notice how it gives each human being the same enhanced dark eyes, dark hair, and pale-white smooth skin 鈥� with knowing these characteristics, it鈥檚 difficult to assume the person鈥檚 ethnic background or origin; allowing the viewer to see the world from a different perspective,鈥� Childress said. 鈥淚t has the potential to remove racial barriers that could definitely help with societal and social issues that have caused divides in our world today.鈥�

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Stephanie Gilbertson

Gilbertson is a digital media major who plans to intern in Washington, D.C. following graduation. She was born in Niamey, Niger and moved with her family to America at age four.

Gilbertson鈥檚 show, titled 鈥淔aith, Hope, and Love 鈥︹�� is a collection of animations inspired by songs, stories, media, and her family. 

鈥淚 may tend to go more on the emotional side but, I can also go visual. I can visually perceive how astonishing a basic object can be. That鈥檚 the root of my perception of the world and people,鈥� Gilbertson said. 鈥淢y idea for this piece is to express myself, and display what I see and feel in a visual platform.鈥�

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Bryan Luna

Luna is a digital media major whose future plans are 鈥渟imply to sharpen up his craft.鈥� He finds inspiration in existential philosophy.

Luna鈥檚 video work places himself in the spotlight, because 鈥渇or the longest time, I tried to separate my voice from my own work. Identity and purpose are things that I have always struggled with, and I created art devoid of me as a means to ignore that confrontation. Through this project, I set out to end that silence, without subtlety.鈥�

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Raviv Monahan

Monahan is an art and bible, religion, and theology double major who intends to pursue a master鈥檚 in labor studies or a master of fine arts. He is inspired by Cuban pop art, leftist philosophy, and Leninist and Marxist political theory.

Monahan鈥檚 show, titled 隆Venceremos!, includes work of different media inspired by figures and movements like Andy Warhol and Keith Haring, and particularly the radical political messages behind their art.

鈥淎rt has a message inherently, and I think that鈥檚 also what draws me to early Soviet art and Cuban pop art; much like Warhol and Haring, these movements made no secret of their affinity for leftism, by infusing their work with slogans, playful text, and revolutionary iconography such as Guerrillero Heroico,鈥� Monahan said.

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Mandy Puffenbarger

Puffenbarger is a digital media art and communications double major from Linville, Va. She plans to return to EMU in the fall to finish her college career, and assist with various productions on campus.

Puffenbarger鈥檚 show started out as a screenplay, which became a short film, which became black and white diptych images that 鈥減ortray different identities of the same person鈥� within the film. 

鈥淭he woman in the film deals with depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder. The photos on the left is the reality of the event and the image on the right is what the young woman is experiencing. The images follow closely to the script written to make it come to life,鈥� Puffenbarger said. 

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Stephen Sheppard

Sheppard is a digital media major with a minor in business administration. He joined the Visual and Communication Arts department in his junior year, and has developed skills across multiple media. 

Sheppard鈥檚 surreal collage work is inspired by contemporary artist Robert Rauschenberg, whose 鈥渇ocus was directed towards political, social, and environmental movements taking place during the era,鈥� he said. Sheppard has taken this impetus to look into our relationship with media.

鈥淎s the media plays a huge role in our lives with regard towards the content that we have access to, these source outlets have the ability to form content in a biased fashion. As a result, we are sometimes left uninformed of what is really important.鈥�

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Nik Tucker

Tucker is a marketing major who plans to take a position with the ministry Every Nation after graduation. 鈥淚 am an avid videographer and photographer that is first and foremost a missionary for the gospel of Jesus Christ,鈥� Tucker said.

Tucker鈥檚 senior photography show asks the viewer to 鈥渂e still. In a world full of chaos, the human mind and body takes little time to stop and recharge. We constantly keep moving until it鈥檚 too late to save our mental, physical, and spiritual health. The God of peace is allowing us to have peace within the pandemic,鈥� Tucker writes in his artist’s statement. “Using a wide angle lens and lots of empty space, you first would get the impression that the subject is alone鈥� yet in this case he is not alone at all.”

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Emily Young

Young is a digital media and marketing double major who plans to return to her hometown of Fredericksburg, Va. and pursue a career in graphic design. She has also developed a cottage industry for herself creating hyper-realistic dog illustrations for pet owners.

Young鈥檚 digital illustrations are recreations of photographs made up of tens of thousands of painstakingly hand-drawn shapes. 

鈥淭he first ship that I created was a birthday present for my dad, which was the ship

that he served on while in the Navy,鈥� Young said. 鈥淓ven though this is a slow, time consuming process, the end result is always worth the wait.鈥�