2025 Senior Art Exhibition

“nexus”

by Canita Ruan

Valdosta State University Fine Arts Senior Students came together to present their Spring 2025 final seniors show, titled “nexus.” The exhibition was held at the Dedo Maranville Fine Arts Gallery, from April 13 to May 1. The exhibition was a celebration of the student’s growth, creativity, and collaboration. Each piece in the exhibition reflected their university and personal journey, with themes showing connection, transition and shared experience. The exhibition offered a vibrant and memorable showcase of diverse talents and bright futures of ten emerging artists ready to explore the many possibilities of the art world.

Emma Sink in “Nexus”

by Haley Miller

Emma Sink, a resident of Valdosta, GA, is a participant in the Spring 2025 senior exhibition, “Nexus,” at Valdosta State University. The show features all the graduating art seniors, focusing on themes such as life, family, and the personal interests of the students. The main themes that Sink pursues are life, death, and the process of grieving. Grieving can be due to death, but people can also grieve in life for a multitude of reasons, which is something she likes to explore. She establishes that she has a rather dark personality, and that is why she tends to focus on themes such as death. However, she wants to find the beauty within death and within memories. For her viewers, she hopes that they look past the gruesomeness and face value of her work to really question what it means behind the bones and the intricate details.

Elizabeth Wilson

by Shelby Hammack

In preparation for a new painting, Elizabeth Wilson sits cross-legged on her bedroom floor, sketching the composition into a small sketchbook. The strokes of her pencil begin broadly but begin to hone into detail as I settle on the floor across from her. Her room is relatively large for being one of four in the home, but it feels slightly smaller due to the collection of trinkets and ephemera she’s collected in this very room for the past two decades. “I prefer to work on the floor of my bedroom if I’m painting,” Wilson states, “I like to be in the comfort of my home with all of my things around me that I need.” Considering the theme of Wilson’s work in the 2025 “Nexus” exhibition at Valdosta State University’s Dedo Maranville Gallery, it is suitable to see her in the comfort of her home while producing her work.

Victoria Wells

by Hayley Acevedo

When Victoria first arrived at VSU, she wasn’t entirely sure what she wanted to specialize in. She experimented with various media—printmaking, graphic design, and even sculpture. Eventually, she developed a distinctive style centered around lionesses and the female figure. Wells works in a style she refers to as “abstract realism,” in which she combines highly detailed, realistic imagery with expressive, abstract backgrounds. For her, making art is an emotional process. She begins with whatever she’s feeling in the moment and uses that emotion to guide the creation of her backgrounds. Once the abstract elements are laid down, she incorporates realistic figures—often lions or human forms—to bring the composition to life.