Student art is on display at the Baum Gallery, as the final showcase for graduating art students lines the walls in a culmination of their time at UCA.

Brian Young, director of Baum Gallery, said 18 artists are on display until Dec. 1, and the show is an opportunity for students to get a taste of exhibiting their art professionally.

“It’s a chance, good or for bad, for the artists to showcase their work [in conjunction] with other artists’ work. So they’re going to be compared whether they like it or not,” Young said.

“People are gonna come to the show and pick what they like, what they don’t like. That’s kind of a judgment on their work.”

The senior show is required for all students graduating from the Art and Design Department with a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Fine Arts.

Senior and BFA major Lindy Cook said her paintings have been a year in the making. Cook said that the experience was nerve-wracking but rewarding.

“I was nervous about people seeing it and perceiving it,” Cook said. “As an artist, you’re always kind of worried about how the audience is gonna be, if they’re gonna like it or not.”

Cook’s paintings depict fabrics and come with small cards containing unique smells. The smells aren’t labeled, because Cook said she wants the viewer to make their mind up about the scent and how it relates to the work.

The scents are meant to evoke a certain nostalgia for adolescent memories, an idea Cook stumbled upon while researching.

“I concentrated on Alzheimer’s and dementia patients. I did a lot of research about how nostalgia affects them and how the five senses relate to that,” Cook said.

In her research, she found links between the five senses and their role in recalling memories.

“My project is five paintings … And I have deliverables, as we call them, but they’re cards that go with each of the paintings. They have a scent that is associated with each one. Then there’s a QR code to a sound I created. Just by clipping together different sound bits and editing them, then fading them in and out, to create this ambiance.”

Brian Young described Cook’s paintings as “photorealist,” because of their large, true-to-life scale.

Cook said hanging up her work during installation week was a long process.

“I kept coming back each day, just to double check,” Cook said. “I went in there every day and I was leveling all my paintings and making sure everything was straight, and double-checking on lighting.”

Cook said she spoke to Young, “I was just telling him, ‘I know I’m just hanging around, but I feel weird leaving because I feel like it shouldn’t be done yet.’”

On opening night, which was Nov. 2, Cook said it felt “surreal” to see the gallery filled with work by all of her peers.

“There [was] nothing else for me to do really, but just to enjoy and really take it in and realize that this big moment that we’ve been talking about for the last year — here it is.

“I stayed for basically the whole show … just to be able to really soak it all in and be there with friends and family,” Cook said.

“It was good to talk to other people that came to the gallery as well. To be able to talk to a lot of students and teachers who are seeing it for the first time [and] who I didn’t know personally, but they came up and talked to me about it. That was really fun and exciting to be able to share all of this work,” Cook said.

Young said the gallery is a great place for students to visit, and that they should explore the works inside.

“Up until recently, the Baum Gallery was the only art museum in Faulkner County. So having that on campus is kind of a big deal because it’s a chance for students to come — it’s free and open to the public — and look at art, whether they’re a BA or BFA student or not.

“It’s also an important place for graduating seniors. It gives them perhaps their first museum show. And for some of our student body, it’s the first they’ve been to a museum. So that’s important to us.

“I really can’t state enough that it’s a great experience. It’s part of the student experience,” Young said.

Art-interested members of the community can view the senior show until Dec. 1 at the Baum Gallery. The exhibition is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday through Friday and it closes at 7 p.m. on Thursdays.