Wrightstone exhibit features four MCC sophomores

The Wrightstone Fine Arts Gallery on the McCook Community College campus is showcasing an exhibition for four sophomore Mid-Plains Community College students who are candidates for Associate of Fine Arts Degree. This AFA Exhibition is open to the public through May 1 with an opening reception Saturday.

This exhibit features works from Kashlin Beck, Maria Lopez Campos, Miriam Wahlqvist and Rachael Gallaway. These artists will be on hand Saturday for a meet-and-greet and will share the stories of their journeys as artists. The reception will be from Saturday, April 25 from 4-6 p.m.

Their thesis defense will be May 1 from 10-noon and from 1-3 p.m. in the gallery.

The Wrightstone Gallery and this exhibit is open to the public with free admission from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and Tuesdays until 9 p.m.

Here is a look at this year’s sophomore artists:

Maria G. Lopez-Campos – Her portfolio work explores transformation through memory and how the past can be interpreted differently over time. Her series engages with themes of childhood, family and inheritance.

Her series uses mixed media. Oil paint emphasizes the figures as the focal points and reinforces their presence and emotional intensity with visual clarity and detail. Acrylic creates a looser, more expressive background that carries narrative and emotional weight.

“This contrast in media reflects the fluid and evolving nature of memory over time,” she said. “Fabric is also incorporated into the presentation of each painting to extend the surface beyond a traditional canvas. This disrupts conventional presentation to further reinforce the nature of memory, it is layered and embedded within lived experiences.” 

Overall, she said, the series reflects the ongoing process of revisiting the past and reevaluating it.

Kashlin Beck works primarily in charcoal on drywall.

“Drywall is fragile and easily damaged, which mirrors the emotional states I explore in my work. Its rough texture catches charcoal unevenly, creating accidental marks, cracks, and areas of erosion that I allow to remain visible,” she said.

Her works focus on her “other friends” -- which are figures that exist in the space between imagination, memory, and emotion. She said childlike figures appear frequently in her work and that they symbolize emotional honesty and exposure. Her drawings serve as quiet conversations with parts of herself that are usually ignored or misunderstood.

“By giving these unseen companions a physical form, I invite viewers to reflect on their own internal figures, like the ones that follow them through fear, comfort them in silence, or simply remind them that they are not alone,” she said.

Miriam Wahlqvist works almost exclusively with graphite but has dabbled in charcoal and oil painting too. She said the core of her work consists of capturing people’s personalities on paper. She said each person chosen gets two pieces of art – one portrait and one still life.

“The portrait is supposed to represent them (or how I see them) and the still life meant to represent their spirit,” she said. “The still lifes can been anything from objects that person owns to symbols that I feel represent them.”

She said technique is important to her and that she was taught to see art as a science. She needs measurements, scales and values to be correct.

For her art to make sense she needs a balance between execution of technique and artistic expression, what story she wants to tell with her work.

Rachael Gallaway spent the past two years at MPCC refining her fine art skills and fostering her childhood love of art through observation of the world around her.

She pulls inspiration from her faith in Christ, as he is reflected in all areas of her life.

“I use my testimony to create powerful subject matter for my pieces and turn my pain into power. Each drawing in this series shows a defining moment in my journey of faith,” said.

Her drawings are created in an illustrative manor because they are conceptual images from her mind, and because she is telling her story visually. She uses mark making techniques such as hatching, cross hatching, and stippling to create tone, add texture and variety, model form, and show movement.

Her work is emotionally charged and packed with personal meaning and iconography.