The Opening Reception for the Hocking College 2015 Senior Art Exhibition in ceramics, glass and photography will be Friday, April 24, 2015 from 5 - 9 p.m. at the Hocking College Art Gallery's temporary location at 37 Public Square. The 2015 Senior Art Exhibition opening is part of Nelsonville's Final Friday on the Square activities.
The show, an important event for graduating students, has been moved to temporary gallery space following the recent fire on the Nelsonville Square. The fire gutted 30 Public Square, the building that was housing the gallery, and destroyed student and faculty art, artwork from a recent high-school show along with lighting and display pedestals. Fortunately, art for the senior show had not been moved into the gallery space before the fire. The seniors, faculty members and other students are working now to build new pedestals and displays in order to get everything set up in the new space in time for the opening.
Mark Hackworth of the Art, Design and Marketing program said, "An event like this causes people to come together. Our students, who are a tight knit group to begin with, have bonded even more. They are determined to make this the best show that we have had." He continued, "We invite everyone to join us at 37 Public Square to show support for these resilient students and to enjoy the exhibition."
While a dollar value of the loss has not been determined, the Hocking College Foundation has started a GoFundMe campaign to help build and purchase new displays and lighting for the program, and to help establish permanent gallery space in a new location in the future. Foundation Director Libby Villavicencio said, "A lot of people have asked how they can help, what they can do to support these students and this program, so we've established a GoFundMe campaign. In addition to supporting this year's exhibition, donations will help ensure future art students get to have a gallery experience." Donations can be made at http://www.gofundme.com/HockingArtGallery.
"Every year the graduating class of the Arts, Marketing, and Design program produces high caliber work and showcases the skills they have learned," Brian Alloway, program instructor at Hocking College, said. "Every year we say the show is better than last year's show because the students we are producing are growing off of the example from the previous class. It's really quite amazing to see how far the students come in such a short time."
Eleven seniors with various art disciplines will showcase their work from April 24 through May 3; gallery hours are Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 1-6 p.m. The exhibit will include the work of Sharon Disbennett, Seth Bowman, Courtney Carsey, Hallie Brush, Jeremiah Disbennett, Taylor Beltz, Josie Hand, Jordan Furner, Brady Hashman, Haley Vannier, Ashley Dishong and Emily Dockery.
