The Kappa Pi Honor Society put up its annual art exhibit on Oct. 26 in the Fain Fine Arts Building.
Kappa Pi president Samantha Nichols, a junior, said Kappa Pi is open to any art major and that this show is another chance for students involved to display their work.
Nichols said as part of the national organization, Kappa Pi is required to either do a community service project or work in a show at some time during the year.
“We normally choose to do a show to allow the members to show work they haven’t been able to show any other time,” she said. “It’s really nice to have this extra opportunity to get your name and your work out there.”
Nichols said the show is completely student run, from the lighting fixtures, the hanging of the exhibition and the selection process of what will be viewed.
Students are allowed to either create pieces specifically for the exhibition, or show past works that they were not able to show.
“We try to guarantee at least one piece from each student in Kappa Pi to be exhibited,” Nichols said. “We usually average two pieces per member, though.”
A variety of media is created by the students and displayed, including copper enamel and steel sculptures, paintings, drawings, prints and photography.
Nichols showed two of her own pieces of work in the exhibition.
“I had “Innominate Butterfly”, a bronze casting of a butterfly made out of hipbones, and “The St. Patrick’s Cuff”, an enameled bracelet,” Nichols said.
Junior Sydney Kuehler also had a work shown in the exhibit.
“I had a copper and nickel-silver top hat that the lid was hinged and had a rabbit pendant inside of it,” she said. “It took me about four weeks to make. It was a project I did last fall, but wasn’t able to show.”
Kuehler likes showing in the Kappa Pi exhibit compared to other gallery showings in the art department because of the relaxed nature of the show.
“I really like showing in the Kappa Pi show because the other options to show while you’re a student at MSU are the judged competitions and senior exhibitions,” Kuehler said.
Kuehler said the purpose of the show is to simply view other student’s works.
“Nobody is trying to win anything,” Kuehler said. “It’s just a friendly way for people to see your artwork, and for us to support each other and our work.”
Aside from the chance to exhibit work, the students were not able to show at other exhibits, both Nichols and Kuehler said. Kappa Pi also gives its members the advantage of participating in activities that normal classes don’t allow.
“I had a lot of fun hanging the show,” Kuehler said. “It’s a neat experience for students to learn how to hang and organize a show.”
Kappa Phi does not get many opportunities to do that, Kuehler said.
“We’re really proud of the exhibit, and we think we put on a good show this year.”
The exhibit will be up until Nov. 23.