Seven Minot State University senior art students will be hosting their Capstone exhibition, titled ‘AMALGAM,’ to mark the culmination of their studies. The show will open with a public reception and online viewing at the Northwest Arts Center on Friday at 6:30 p.m. and be on display until June 10.

Capstone is the culminating experience for art majors, allowing them to apply what they have learned in their time at Minot State. In Capstone, seniors produce an exhibition, portfolio, paper, or project that presents original and innovative work that showcases their abilities as professional artists and designers. The show will feature an amalgamation of student’s art in their areas of emphasis.

Alex Jimenez’s exhibition, “Abstractiture,” explores the abstraction of human portrait and figure photography to create his own science-fiction inspired imagery. Jimenez is offering larger than life prints of his abstraction of photography.

“I have always been fascinated by character creation. I discovered through digital manipulation that I could obscure and redesign portrait photos of various people I had photographed, and thus, remake them into beings of my own imagining,” Jimenez said.

Agata Mrozik has created 30×40 inch acrylic paintings that incorporate modeling paste to show the human figure through different perspectives in her exhibition, “your body is a wonderland.” Her focus while creating this body of work was changing the perception of ideal bodies and to help viewers accept their own insecurities.

A monochromatic series of oil paintings using the human form is featured in “Identity.” Alexa Orozco’s work is an exploration of the human form and dramatic lighting while experimenting with materials new to the artist.

“Painting has always been my favorite medium and I wanted to venture out from the usual acrylics and work with oil paints. The series was inspired by taking several figure-drawing courses, which I really enjoyed,” said Orozco.

Hannah Nantt’s exhibition, “Sudoku has Done More for My Mental Health Than My Past Two Psychiatrists,” is a series of ceramic pieces focusing on aphorisms about Nantt’s apathy.

Relating her process, she states, “I wanted to focus on a specific aesthetic for my work over a particular idea and ended up finding one through practice anyway. I love ceramics, specifically wheel-thrown, so the outside of the pot was always less important to me than just making a pot in the first place.”

“I DON’T KNOW EITHER,” by Jay Gaare, is an exploration of proportions and color. Gaare’s ceramic wall hangings, paper mache sculptures, and bead curtains are used to give the view a sense of childlike wonder, with a twist.

“This body of work stemmed from one small ceramic tray with the words ‘IT’S OK, I DON’T KNOW EITHER’ painted on in underglaze. ‘I DON’T KNOW EITHER’ resulted from allowing myself to forget about a theme or purpose for the art and just make,” said Gaare.

Chesnea Griffin’s exhibit, “Oneirology,” is a series of cyanotypes created using digitally manipulated photographs. Oneirology is the study of dreams, and Griffin is searching deep into her own dreams and discovering their meanings.

“I love a mix of science and art, sometimes science is more art than science – a lot of people don’t get that,” Griffin said.

Jocelyn Bexell’s exhibition, “Overgrown,” explores the relationship between nature, technology, and humanity through a digitally painted graphic novel short story.

“I have loved comics and graphic novels since I was a child,” Bexell explain. “Illustrations hold a lot of power for storytelling; being able to express that is what drives me to create.”

After the public reception, there will be a gallery talk with the artists at 7 p.m. The exhibition and reception is free and open to the public. Masks are not required, but individuals who are not fully vaccinated or deemed vulnerable are encouraged to wear masks.

While at the Northwest Arts Center, the exhibition will be available for viewing Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday 1-5 p.m. It is closed holidays.

This exhibition is funded in part by a grant from the North Dakota Council on the Arts, which receives funding from the state legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts.