The show, titled "Undecided," takes a satirical look at political and social issues.
Miami University's department of art is displaying the unique talents and creative minds of its Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) students in an exhibit featuring clay, screen printing, paints, metal and mixed media.
The show, titled "Undecided" addresses issues of identity, politics, society, spirituality and culture with a heavy dose of satire.
"The show showcases the diversity of our talents-nobody's work is overlapping," third-year MFA student Derek Reeverts said.
Second-year MFA student Casey Vogt agreed.
"The show really illustrates to the undergraduates what the graduate students have been making and that all the graduate students' (pieces of work are) truly unique from each other," he said.
When Vogt first visited Miami in 2007, he was a finalist in the Young Painters Competition. After meeting a handful of graduate art students, he was impressed with the tight-knit community at Miami.
"Here, everyone has each other's back and there are multiple levels of camaraderie," he said.
According to Vogt, a lot of schools have unhealthy competition. At Miami, he said art students push each other to be better artists.
Vogt says there are many nights where he will want to go home, but sees another graduate student's office light on.
"It helps to know that other people are pushing themselves as long and hard as they can," he said.
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Reeverts has had similar experiences with the intimate size of the art department.
"There is an open flow of ideas back and forth between the teachers and students and there is more a feel of support than competition between everyone, which isn't very common among universities," Reeverts said.
Reeverts was also impressed with the caliber of professors in the art department when he was looking at graduate schools.
"They really look out for the graduate students," Reeverts said.
First-year MFA student Katie Schutte said she has always felt welcome at Miami.
"The professors really wanted me to be there, which made me feel even better about my choice," she said. "Not to mention the great availability of equipment, supplies and resources."
Schutte has been making jewelry since childhood and works within the medium of metals while combining different textile techniques to that. She said she usually tries to re-evaluate household items and make them into something society can view in a new way.
Vogt, who didn't become interested in art until he was 25, also works in a mixture of mediums, using paint, pictures, stickers and silk screen to create collages. He refers to himself as a painter that uses paint but doesn't paint.
"I don't even use the bristle side of the brush, I use the other side to blot paint onto my two-foot by two-foot wood canvases," Vogt said.
Casey said he likes to create patterns that he doesn't get to see in his outside environment.
"I use the Mandala formation of Buddhism in my work because it is used to meditate and focus on one thing," Casey said. "I put one issue at the center of the Mandala and have chaotic colors and patterns around it, but the center still draws you in."
Reeverts says with each piece he makes he poses a question for himself and the viewer using archetypal ideas and adages to spotlight cultural identity.
"I present an idea and enforce it while at the same time making the viewer question it," Reeverts said.
Others have caught on to Reeverts' message too, having been selected for a national competition this past summer in Philadelphia at the Clay Studio and placing second.
The exhibit will be held from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. every day until Nov. 16 in Hiestand Galleries at the Miami Art Musuem. From 5-8 pm on Nov. 12 and 13 in the Hiestand Galleries the MFA students will be presenting their work and having an open forum to take public questions. A reception for the artists will be held from 4:30-6 p.m. on Nov. 7 in Hiestand Galleries.
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