Students exhibit art, recruiters present opportunities.
BY: HIBA OBEED
Staff
Meramec’s annual Portfolio Day took place on October 29th. Hosted by Secretary of the Art Department Dan Bess and Professor of Art Jim Ibur, this was a day where students had the chance to request wall spaces, booths, or both to showcase their art across the hallways on both floors of the Humanities East Building.
Recruiters represented Missouri state schools such as University of Missouri St. Louis, Kansas City Art Institute, Maryville University, Washington University, Webster University, as well as out of state schools including Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, and Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
But what does this day mean for fine arts students?
“So, I think It’s a really powerful vehicle for students,” said Professor Jim Ibur. He went on, “It’s the practice of interviewing, the practice of speaking about your work, the practice of having your work seen, which is a little outside of one’s comfort zone.”
Professor Ibur teaches STLCC Meramec’s Ceramics class, and he said he’s seen past Portfolio Day’s transform students’ lives.
“There are students who have had such a powerful interview with that school that sometimes the school waves their own entrance for the portfolio part, and says that part’s done I’ve seen it, you’re good, just apply to the program now, and let’s see what kind of scholarship support we can get it for you.”
According to Professor of Art RJ Shay, Portfolio Day doesn’t only require students to show their art skills, but also how they communicate.
“It also allows them to use their communication skills to speak to these recruiters- that’s as important as their art skills are,” he said. “I try to teach my students that they really need to be able to write efficiently as well, and you know, right here we have the resources in this school.”
For professors like Shay, it’s easy to identify skilled students.
“Some of them are like, for instance, Dante,” he said. “She is good enough that she could surpass an entry level position and be able to be brought into the full.”
But who is Dante? Bohdana “Dante” Siebova is a Ukrainian student at STLCC, and this year has been their second year participating in Portfolio Day.
“I got a lot of kudos and good feedback from different colleges and universities I talked to. I even got the opportunity to transfer to Webster because they really liked the work that I showed,” Siebova said. “But for some reason, I just decided to stay here and finish my major.”
Although art students may experiment with many mediums, some may prefer or excel in just one or two. In Siebova’s case, she says “I really like graphic kinds of styles, like traditional inking grayscale, not that I’m not so good with colors. It’s just, you know, I feel more comfortable with black and white.”
Some of the pieces that she decided to show on portfolio day were more experimental. “I keep experimenting. I use not only like usual black and white ink, but black light also, so in some of my art, my illustrations have like hidden invisible ink.”
For other students such as Teagan Frisby, Portfolio Day means an opportunity for critique.
“I think this portfolio I put together really shows my skills off, but if I have the chance to have somebody who does it for a living, be like ‘Hey, this could be tweaked’ it’ll just be very helpful for me with my professional development,” says Frisby.
Unlike Siebova, Frisby’s art work leans more to digital mediums.
“Generally, I do a lot of digital illustration, so just like at home on my free program,” they said. “But I do enjoy some traditional [forms] like inking, and we’ve made some really good inking projects.”
