Union’s art department holds its annual student show this week in Barefoots Joe. The majority of submissions are art pieces made this year and last. Submissions will be judged on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
Lee Benson, professor of art and department chair, is head of the event and has allowed the art students to submit various mediums of artwork. From sculptures to paintings and even altars, students took the time to create what interests them.
Song Kim, senior art major, had submitted two sculptures in the student show last year and will submit a sculptural infographic piece, which is a form of graphic design that has some form of information behind it, along with sculptural elements.
“The title of my piece is ‘Ten Thousand Butterflies’,” she said. “During WWII under Japanese military over 200,000 women [were] forced to become sex slaves under the Japanese rule and were either kidnapped or chosen to do work for them. We never knew about it because they never talked about it, so only about 200 women spoke about it.”
Kim knew about the history of the issue since she was in middle school and it made her upset to hear about it. But she didn’t know what she could do to make people aware of the issue, so she put her infographic skills to work in order to share the story.
Sophomore art student Josh Smith shared about his Americano pieces.
Smith said, “I was interested in seeing if I can recreate small pitchers that they have at Modero, and then I decided to make a set because I discovered Americanos in Italy and I wanted to make one at my house.
Not every art piece that is displayed will not have an in-depth story to tell but each one does show artistry and great interest. All the students involved made it their choice to submit their work for judging.
Awards will be presented Thursday night.