Conspiracy theories, graffiti, Chincoteague ponies, typography and the celebration of life decorated the Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery’s walls for the Senior Art Exhibit on Nov. 15.

The show, which is held every semester for the Visual Arts Programs’ graduating seniors, featured the artwork of Thomas Buckman, William Lazenby, Chappell McMillian Jr., Monica S. Mitchell and Cecelia E. Mooneyhan.

These students created all the artwork on display, and arranged and set up the entire show without any outside assistance.

Buckman said that for the process of organizing the show, everyone coordinated fairly well together.

“We pretty much knew what we were getting into,” Buckman said.

The only requirements that the professors gave the students for the show were that the students each had to submit six pieces and all of the pieces had to have a uniting theme that reflected their specialty area within the visual arts.

For the fall semester, all five of the students shared the same specialty area of graphic design, but each still had a distinctive style and theme.

For their themes, Buckman and Mooneyhan both drew inspiration from books they had read. Mooneyhan created several designs for a horse swim campaign from the book “Misty of Chincoteague,” and Buckman further explored conspiracy theories in his work after reading about the possibility of the death of Beatles member Paul McCartney.

McMillian worked with incorporating different typo-graphy into his designs by using contrasting elements of style. Lazenby used the techniques of graffiti to express his anti-establishment theme, while Mitchell applied a variety of visual art styles in her work that celebrated the enjoyment of life.

Gregory Fry, an associate professor of visual arts, worked with the students for the show and commented on being able to watch the students’ skills develop.

“The amount of their growth is pretty amazing sometimes. Seeing them when they come in and they are just trying to learn how to use the computer to where they are able to fulfill an entire campaign from design is pretty cool,” Fry said. “I feel pretty strongly that the students have come a long way.”