Students can appreciate original artwork that graduate students in the studio art program have created for their master’s theses at the Graduate Art Exhibition at the Main Galleries of the Tarble Arts Center starting Wednesday with a reception on Friday.

The work on exhibit is courtesy of 10 graduate students for their thesis presentations that they have worked on since the Fall 2018 semester until the Spring 2019 semester, according to Eastern’s website.

Maddie Kennedy, a graduate student majoring in studio art, said each student has to present their art pieces to a committee and then explain why they made the specific style choices for their art and defend their choices.

The grad students spend the entire school year planning out and working on these art pieces, she said.

Every detail is planned out, from choosing a specific medium to finding materials to create the actual art, she said.

Considering how many mediums are styles each artist can utilize, each piece of art is unique, Kennedy said.

“The show is an amassment of our entire year’s work,” Kennedy said.

Now, at the end of the year, all of their hard work is being displayed for the public to see.

The opening reception for the gallery is Friday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Main Galleries of Tarble Arts Center.

The art displayed is a range of two-dimensional and three-dimensional art.

Art pieces such as oil paintings, metalworking and paper folding will be available to see.

Most of the works will be available for purchase.

According to the Tarble Arts Center on Eastern’s website, “Every year a wide range of styles, media, and art-making approaches are on view.”

The exhibition will be having a gallery talk on May 1 from 10:30 to 11:30 in the morning in the Main Galleries as well.

Kennedy said people should go to the exhibit because the artwork presented is particular to art graduate students at Eastern.

“You will never get to see a show like this ever again,” Kennedy said. “It is completely unique and definitely changes the atmosphere of the gallery. It is like a funhouse.”

The exhibition is co-presented by Tarble Arts Center and the EIU Art and Design Department.

This annual event is free and open to the public from Wednesday to May 19 at Tarble Arts Center in the Main Galleries.

Morgan Bledsoe can be reached at 581-2812 or at mmbledsoe@eiu.edu.