<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4I6XPG_1GtgAQxF00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4I6XPG_1GtgAQxF00" width="1200" height="800" ></figure>For First-Generation Celebration Week at the University of Missouri, Student Success Librarian Jill Kline and her team hosted their second annual First-Generation College Student Art Exhibition on Thursday, Nov. 5, in Ellis Library. Artists of many mediums were encouraged to apply through QR codes and emails sent across campus.Kline, an artist and first-generation college student, hopes the event helps first-gen students step out of their comfort zones.“It can be hard to know how and when to step out of our comfort zone, and how to include ourselves in a larger conversation,” Kline said. “I want this exhibit to showcase that we can move past our imposter syndrome and show our communities, and maybe ourselves, that we are capable, we are successful, we are talented and we are valuable.”Eight pieces from the exhibit will be displayed on the first floor of Ellis Library until the end of the semester. The showcase also served as a competition, with first- through third-place winners receiving a prize and a goodie bag.Many of the participating artists have been involved in art mediums for as long as they can remember, like Michele Miller.Miller, a senior in the College of Education and Human Development, submitted a painting of herself and her tuxedo cat, using the showcase to get her name out there artistically.“I just want the experience of getting my art out there, learning, you know, what this will do in the future,” Miller said. “I want to know what people think, whether it’s good, whether it’s bad. I like criticism because it helps me get better.”Throughout the exhibition, many artists spoke to attendees about their art. Safera Archie, a freshman architecture major, learned from her high school art teacher that art is also a form of self-expression. She wanted to honor him by painting his favorite thing: goldfish.“My art teacher in high school, he was a big inspiration to me, and that was his favorite thing,” Archie said. “He was just always shy, and I’m really shy, and he always came out and he showed me how art can be a form of expression.”Two artists in particular explored family in the pieces they submitted.Yadira Blanco, a senior studying hearing sciences, submitted her first oil painting about her younger brother. Throughout many of her art pieces, her brother is a constant subject.“I love my little brother so much, and this is a piece from a picture that I recreated from a few years ago in our hometown,” Blanco said. “This just captures who he is… It’s just really awesome because I could capture it, and I’ll just have this piece to look at for years to come.”Similarly, senior Oliva Martinez, studying fine arts with an emphasis in printmaking, submitted an art piece about her brother as well, whose absence affected her when he first left for the Navy.“So I wanted to really make a print of him, just highlighting him as a boy when we were basically, I mean, the most close to each other,” Martinez said. “It was kind of a way for me to preserve that memory of him while he went off to do his adult things.”Many attendees found the exhibit thoughtful and heartfelt, including Dr. Darcy Holtgrave, the manager of the MedOpp Advising Office at Mizzou. As an attendee, Holtgrave felt that an exhibit like this was very cool to see.“I think one of the great things that this exhibit is doing is showcasing the abilities and the achievements of first-generation college students and putting together really different kinds of pieces in one space,” Holtgrave said. “I think that’s pretty exciting and thinking about how they all kind of work together and some of them are photographs, some of them are paintings, and so thinking about the different abilities and talents that are being brought to the stage here. I think it’s just pretty neat.”Cathleen Fleck, the director of the School of Visual Studies, was one of many who reviewed and judged the student submissions, and she found the event very exciting.“It’s exciting to me to see students engaging with the arts who are from all different disciplines,” Fleck said. “So some of them are art students, sure, but some of them are not. And to encourage that kind of engagement with the arts from first-gen students, all the better.”The purpose of art as a medium differs from person to person, but for many, art is ultimately a form of self-expression. Reflecting on what art means to her, junior Graci Calovich argues in her piece “ART” that art is about community.“In my experience with the fine art scene, I’ve often felt suffocated by rigid lines that separate ‘high’ and ‘low’ art; a kind of exclusivity that is immensely isolating and completely contradicts my initial draw to practicing art,” Calovich said in a written description of the piece. “In this case, I simply want to make clear that art is inherently about community, about sharing, about teaching and mentoring and learning and making creative mediums accessible.”Copy Edited by Ellie Quinn and Hannah VanLandingham | [email protected]Edited by McKenzie Schweitzer | [email protected]</div></body>

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For First-Generation Celebration Week at the University of Missouri, Student Success Librarian Jill Kline and her team hosted their second annual First-Generation College Student Art Exhibition on Thursday, Nov. 5, in Ellis Library. Artists of many mediums were encouraged to apply through QR codes and emails sent across campus. Kline,...

A first-generation art exhibition allows students to showcase their work

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For First-Generation Celebration Week at the University of Missouri, Student Success Librarian Jill Kline and her team hosted their second annual First-Gen

A first-generation art exhibition allows students to showcase their work

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