On April 15 at 5 p.m., Auburn’s department of art and art history unveiled the Spring 2025 Senior Project Exhibition, “Six Figures.”
The senior exhibition marks the final stage of the bachelor of fine arts in studio art where students showcase their developed artistic practices. This semester’s show recognized the creative research of six seniors: Corey Blair, Collin Crowder, Coraline Guida, Tandanesia Lane, Kiley Lloyd and Skye Watts.
With various concentrations among the six seniors, the gallery featured a variety of art and art mediums, each piece with their own unique story and creative process.
“I definitely have learned a lot. I came into it, and I remember going to the shows of people who were graduating in my first few semesters. I have always just been like, ‘there's no way, it's not going to look like that when I do it.’ So, it's exciting to see how much I've improved and how much I've learned,” Watts said.
Watts, whose concentration is in painting, expressed excitement to see everyone’s work together in the gallery space. The art department is a tight-knit community, according to Watts, and she was excited to celebrate the hard work of her and her friends.
Students examine the works "Raw Geometry", "Exchanging Signals", & "Out of Bounds" by Collin Crowder at Auburn's spring senior art exhibit on April 15, 2025.
Crowder, whose concentration is also in painting, had been anxiously awaiting the senior exhibition and was relieved it had finally come.
“I have three paintings where I'm trying to combine origami and oil painting. So, I made digital collages, and I printed them out, and then folded them out, and then re-collaged them and that becomes the reference picture,” Crowder said.
Lane, whose concentration is in animation, displayed multiple mediums in the gallery. She produced stop-motion animation, paintings on glass and a hand-painted canvas. The animation involved oil paint, and the glass paintings were created by painting on the glass itself.
“The animation is not my style, but it was different because it was my first time ever trying it and being the first person at Auburn to do this — that was awesome,” Lane said of her stop-motion painting animation.
Although painting on canvas is her specialty, Lane wanted to combine her love for painting with her concentration in animation for the showcase.
“[The animation] is about some spiritual stuff that I was going through, dealing with depression, anxiety and how, over the course of my time at Auburn, I was able to get through it through my walk with Jesus Christ,” Lane said.
Many of the students drew inspiration for their work from key aspects of their lives. Blair, who is concentrating in photography, was inspired by his hometown in California when creating his work for the senior show.
“I grew up around the coast, so I kind of wanted to show my take on the ocean and how I see it. A lot of times it's kind of misunderstood and kind of seen as a party destination, and my take is more on the subtle, quiet moments of the ocean,” Blair said. “So, I have a video and multiple photos showcasing the quiet, the isolation, kind of how my life revolved around the ocean.”
Blair hopes to work in extreme sports photography, specifically snowboarding or surfing. Currently, he plans to move to Arizona after graduation and start his career shooting desert sports.
Each of the six seniors put hours of work into setting up the gallery, and each seemed eager to showcase their talent to friends, family and fellow art enthusiasts.
“I never thought I was going to be here. I started off as an aerospace engineering major, but my family really encouraged me to pursue my creativity, and I'm forever thankful for them. This is one of my biggest achievements at Auburn, and I am so proud of it,” Lloyd said.
Lloyd, who is concentrating in painting, paints religious artwork. She hopes to emphasize God’s presence in her paintings.
“Mine is an animation I've been working on for a while now, and it's about a pirate crew. They're not great at being pirates. The whole point is that the captain is really bad at leading his crew and leads them astray, and then at the end, he's the only one that actually meets his demise, and everyone else is okay,” Guida said of her artwork.
Guida was relieved, yet nervous to display her animation in the show. The show was bittersweet for Guida, and she is thankful for the people that she met throughout her creative journey at Auburn.
Caroline Chesnut, senior in English-literature and creative writing, attended the showcase to support her friends and the Auburn art community. Community presence meant a lot to the artists, and Chesnut wanted to make an appearance to celebrate everyone's hard work.
"It means a lot. It's really cool to see what everybody's been working on," Chesnut said. "I know us as writers have been working really hard on our own, sort of like, senior exhibition. So to come and be able to see some of my friends display their work is really exciting, because I know I get to do my own; and it's fun to see the different mediums of creative work at Auburn."
The 2025 senior exhibition will be open at the Biggin Gallery, located at 101 Biggin Hall, until April 25.
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Sam Vise, senior in journalism, is the Assistant Culture Editor for The Auburn Plainsman. She has previously served as a culture writer and community reporter.
