As the school year draws to an end, students are busy studying for finals and making plans for summer. However, one student, Luke Blevins, senior studio arts major with an emphasis in painting, had a different priority.

Blevins recently displayed his senior exhibit, The birds, the bees, and me at Missouri Southern’s Spiva Art Gallery from May 1-5, 2017. The work in the exhibit was composed of several mediums including oil paint, acrylic paint, digital photography, and collages. The pieces revolve around the theme of the birds and the bees to represent femininity and masculinity in society.

            As an openly gay man, Blevins has seen and experienced gender stereotypes first hand and tries to break from these in his artwork. He implements these ideas conceptually and physically in his works. This is especially present in his ceramics pieces, “One of The Boys”.

            The ceramic pieces in the exhibit were slip casted, fired, glazed with majolica, then re-fired at a lower temperature with a luster, which fuses with the ceramics. The process conceptually contradicts Blevins’ idea of social stereotypes; the stereotypes can be removed but the luster can’t.

Although, senior shows are typically exhibited in a group, Blevins was able to display his work as a single show because he is the only graduating studio arts major this semester. Showcasing his work in this was the most efficient choice to display his art due to the size of his works, and to emphasize his concept.