Putting your creative work out there for people to see is essentially what any visual artist wants. But for Missouri Western seniors, the display is more than that. It's a right of academic passage.

Five soon-to-be graduating senior art students are showing their work at the Potter Hall Fine Arts Gallery on Missouri Western's campus, as part of the university's senior art exhibition.

This is the second of two senior shows held this school year. And it's more than just a bunch of college kids deciding to take over gallery space. The way that Missouri Western art professor Peter Hriso explains it, it's actually a class requirement.

"This part of their culminating experience," Hriso says. "All graduating senior art students need to take this as a class and need to form a show, a body of work that represents what they've learned throughout their academic career."

Guests who come to the senior art exhibition will get to take in nearly 30 pieces from five student artists: Bridgette Dunn (painting), Jamie Hanson (graphic design and sculpture), Trisha Steele (graphic design), Carmen Smith (graphic design and photography) and Michaela Schildknecht (art education).

This senior show has been on display only since Nov. 30, but it's been on the mind of Dunn a lot longer.

"I think it's something I've kind of looked forward to for the past couple of years," she says. "I think it just gives you practice for how to set up a show and what pieces flow best with each other."

Students obviously benefit from the experience, but Hriso says the general public usually gets pleasantly surprised when they see what these young artists can create.

"The students here are producing a wide variety of work and a wide variety of quality work that isn't common to a region like this," he says. "It's a nice avenue for the general public to come and view and see what's going on."

After putting in the time and credit hours to advance their skills, students like Dunn see the senior art exhibition as a rewarding final step of their academic careers.

"This is the last thing you have to worry about," Dunn says. "It just kind of feels good that all the work you've done, you're finally getting recognized for it."

The senior art exhibition is on display through Dec. 11. For more information, call 271-5652 or visit www.missouriwestern.edu.

Blake Hannon | Stjoelive staff