Various pieces of student artwork will soon fill Francis Marion University’s Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery for the Senior Art Exhibit on Thursday, Nov. 15.

Every semester, the Visual Arts Program holds a Senior Art Exhibit to present the work of students who are graduating with a major in the visual arts.

The senior exhibit on Nov. 15 will showcase the work of the senior visual arts students graduating during the fall semester. Those graduating fall semester students include Thomas Buckman, William Lazenby, Chappell McMillan, Monica Mitchell and Cecelia E. Mooneyhan.

Steve Gately, the coordinator of the visual arts program, said that the decisions for the exhibit are decided on by the presenting seniors, except for the requirements for the actual artwork that are set by the students’ professors. The seniors work together to organize and arrange the exhibit, as well as decide on the placement of the artwork.

While all the seniors are visual arts majors, they also all have a certain specialty area within the major. Some of those areas include photography, ceramics and visual communications. With the help of professors from their concentration, the students will create work for the exhibit that reflects their specialty.

Other requirements for the students’ artwork include that all the art pieces in each student’s section of the exhibit have to share a common theme, a certain style or the same subject matter. Also, all the pieces have to be presented professionally.

Dr. Gregory Fry, an associate professor of visual arts, said that the program started holding the Senior Art Exhibit for several reasons.

“The intent is to make the student more aware of the gallery environment and to understand the value in having work that is presentable when displayed in a public venue,” Fry said. “It also enables them to push their limits and extend what they have learned from their academic coursework into a final presentation.”

The opening night of the exhibit will be held from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. After that night, the artwork will remain on display until commencement on Dec. 17.