As Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) fine arts students prepare to graduate, their excitement is accompanied by memories of the last four years.
“Over the course of the four years I’ve been here, a lot of the instructors have really pushed me to go out of my comfort zone,” says student Jocelyn Gosling.
“My final art pieces are a style that I have not painted in before. It’s so much more abstract, and I attribute that to them.”
Gosling is one of 12 graduating students whose work is on exhibition at KPU’s annual Bachelor of Fine Arts Graduation Exhibition, Before Tomorrow.
Like many other graduating students, Gosling describes the feeling as bittersweet.
“It’s exciting getting to the end of your journey and feeling a sense of achievement, but at the same time it’s sad because I’m leaving behind my second home,” says Gosling.
Tia Murray, another graduating student, credits KPU for shaping her into the artist she is today.
“KPU taught me who I am as an artist. I started as an oil painter and now I do textiles,” says Murray. “One instructor in particular really pushed me to use the art that I did at home in my schoolwork.”
Murray describes the pieces she created for the grad show as self-portraits.
“My pieces are taxidermy of self. I don’t like to put my literal self in the piece, I let the piece be about what I love and that in itself is the self-portraiture part. I like to think of myself as a conglomeration of colourful blobs,” says Murray.
The pieces created by the graduating students can be viewed in the gallery spaces at KPU Surrey, 12666 72 Ave. until April 24.