It was a painting of many things, the culmination of college and the loss of loved one. “Wish you could be at Graduation” it was titled, with a person sized blank space next to the artists representation of themselves. Only the sash painted around their neck was yellow, a color they said represented hope. Everything else, including themselves, was blue grief or blended green.
Six senior art students compressed themselves into just a few portfolio pieces; their dreams for the future, their understanding of the world and their artistic skills on display for appreciation and critique. The Bachelor of Fine Arts senior studio exhibition in the Ridenbaugh Gallery opened Nov. 18 and will remain until Dec. 12.
A good portfolio collection contains a clear and communicated message from the artist, said Aaron Johnson, associate professor at the University of Idaho College of Art and Architecture.
Back in January, Johnson began mentorship of the Fall 2025 BFA graduates, who each found a theme they wanted to represent and art skills they wanted to hone. Art made in senior studio is meant to be seen and is inevitably shaped by professional standards.
It must be named and framed, and is best done as a series to demonstrate consistency. Whether or not the students would choose to submit their work to a gallery, Johnson worked to ensure it would match industry standards. Accompanying each collection, students wrote an explanation of the thoughts behind the message and medium.
“I often feel profoundly afraid, alone, nauseous and like parts of myself have been lost,” Keiran Heywood wrote in their wall text.
Their work centered around their body, sometime whole, sometimes abstracted, with the noticeable absence of others in the cold blue settings. Heywood’s art is about the hope and courage to overcome the past.
In contrast, Sofia Nuss painted what she could remember of her childhood where memories contained simple happiness instead of whatever turmoil the present is.
Each collection was really about change and graduation, and how could it not be when the capstone classes’ purpose was so clear. Nuss’s was the change from childhood to adult life, and what gets left behind. Heywood’s was about change within themselves.
Tyler Ready saw a change in world with the modern rise of fascism and militarism even during the relatively short period in which he created his portfolio. Ice abductions, which he represented with a bound and bagged statue of liberty, did not happen so unwarranted one year ago.
“I want to see a more just, equitable and empathetic country, and I don’t see that,” Ready said.
Neither Ready nor Austin Eike hesitated to add names to their art. Ready stenciled Elon Musk holding a Nazi Salute on the side of a missile and Eike carved Xanax over and over into the more than a dozen tablet shaped slabs.
Eike’s change has yet to come as pharmaceutical drug addiction in America remains pervasive and damaging, but fingers have been pointed and the message is clear.
“The same substances that damage our families and communities are first marketed and sold to us as something that helps,” Eike wrote.
Jasmin Popoca’s message is abstract, as is her art. The change she depicts is that of the climate, though not though burning forests, but the uniqueness of animal life that will be lost. Appreciating what can be lost is the first step to preserving it.
Adelia Hopper was the change, straying from the norm as someone gender nonconforming. They created critters who also strayed from the norms of the animals people would know, a velociraptor with mismatched legs and a fox head on a lengthy body.
“They’re real and they’re unreal at the same time, and they are just what they are, and that joy and whimsy and otherness, it reflects into myself as well,” Hopper said.
Hours for the Fall 2025 gallery are available the uidahoartdesign Instagram account with viewing hours on Monday to Thursday, except for Thanksgiving Day.
On Friday, Dec. 12, a closing reception will be held at the gallery. An opening reception would have normally been held, but due to construction on the Ridenbaugh Hall front entrance, it was delayed until after completion. The senior studio exhibition happens each semester, and will feature approximately 17 art students for the 2026 Spring gallery.