The Art Show
"Spiral Storm" Wendy Cooper
The Senior Thesis Exhibition is the culminating experience of the art major, whereby students in studio, photo and new media, graphic and interactive design, art education, and art history develop a strong, cohesive body of work. This year’s show was scheduled to run from April 23 through May 9 in Payne Gallery. Though the experience of art is richest in its presence, we ask you to meet our seniors, view their work, and discover their artistic intentions.
Art is foremost a language that asks questions and critically analyzes the world around us. And like any language, it offers a full range of powerful intellectual and philosophical investigations and experiences.
These students delved deeply into their chosen fields, passionately throwing themselves into their work despite the difficulties of this last semester. It takes great courage to strip down preconceived notions, to look hard, to unveil parts of yourself and your work that scare you. I’ve worked with many of the students here from the beginning, and it’s truly incredible to see how far they have come. It’s been an honor working with all of them.
—Angela Fraleigh, art professor and chair
Wendy Cooper
Hometown: East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania
Major: Studio art
To view all works in this series, go to mrvn.co/cooper.
My senior thesis project is a series of digital paintings titled Welcome to the New World. It’s a narrative-based series that features two characters, the Plague Doctor and the Therapist, and their tense doctor-patient relationship.
Their interactions reflect the subtle anxieties and fears that manifest when one is affected by trauma. When I was younger,
I believed trauma was intense, flashback-like, and vivid. However, as I grew older and started to confront my own troubles, I found the experience to be subtle, taking the form of anxieties and fears, irrational beliefs, and unclear triggers. To depict this experience, I created two characters who would be in conflict to represent the experience of interfacing with these anxieties.
When creating the imagery for this series, I took inspiration from dream interpretation. When I examine my own recurring dreams and motifs, I see them as less literal and more metaphorical. In dream interpretation, the people, places, and objects in your dreams and how you feel about them tend to reflect how you feel about yourself. I’ve incorporated this thinking into my paintings through repeated color palettes, characters, objects, and interactions. I invite viewers to think critically and infer the details of the narrative, as well as immerse themselves into the world I am creating.
Jillian McLuhan
Hometown: Hughesville, Pennsylvania
Major: Studio art
Website: jillianmcluhan.com
To view all works in this series, go to mrvn.co/mcluhan.
Can I tell you a secret? Would you be comfortable telling me one of your secrets? Perhaps you would be comfortable telling your best friend or partner, or maybe you’d be more comfortable opening up to a complete stranger. My work explores capturing vulnerable moments and feelings that are intensely individual to a person yet widespread among most humans.
By exposing my own vulnerability, I invite viewers to let down their guard by creating an environment that challenges their boundaries and how they express themselves. I want the viewer to see parts of themselves in my artwork and feel a call to access how their physical and nonphysical attributes interact with each other and how they interact with others. Introducing a conversation between the body and what is held within it allows me to become a vessel for others to do the same. Giving the viewer my trust establishes a transactional relationship between us.
I want the viewer to have a tantalizing feeling of wanting more from me and wanting to give in return. I cover the seduction of keeping and exposing secrets, reveling in the allure of a love interest, and depicting extreme expressions of emotion. I analyze where we derive pleasure from and create art in response. I made several artworks throughout my research using photography, sculpture, and performance as media that subsequently led to art made while living through the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020.
"Lend" Jillian McLuhan
Alec Divenuto
Hometown: Absecon, New Jersey
Major: Studio art
Other Wordly, my senior thesis project, comprises a series of 36 photographs that explore the theme of being trapped in my house. I began with the idea of motion and started to experiment with my camera in a way that might yield unpredictable results. I removed the lens on my camera, set up various lights and props, and began shooting.
After I had gathered hundreds of images, the process of editing revealed a hidden world of pixelated information. The experience is akin to opening a present, as I never know what will be revealed in the editing process. The photos appear at first as blank, black images—voids. But through manipulation of the exposure and color balance in Photoshop and Bridge, they explode with color, and the results are unpredictable and, for me, mesmerizing.
Mystery surrounds this project—each photo another puzzle that can be solved multiple ways.
“Sand in Space”
“Psilocybin”
“Thin Mints”
Fatimah Amunayan
Hometown: Saihat, Saudi Arabia
Major: Graphic and interactive design
Website: fatimahamunayan.com
I have always been drawn to the art of cooking and making coffee as well as to the coffee industry itself. Over the years, my interest in the culinary arts and the marketing of the industry has grown dramatically. For my thesis, I developed the concept for a coffee shop, which I hope to open when I return home.
To help in the development of this concept, I wanted to find out what people look for in a restaurant. I posted surveys on all of my social media platforms to learn about the key problems that friends, followers, and restaurant owners faced when selecting a restaurant location and its offerings. I discovered that the greatest challenge was finding a place that suits all groups and tastes.
Customers and restaurant owners want to find a niche that works for them while still being open to other groups. Choosing the right location, branding, and decor was also important. These findings gave me reason to explore solutions for how to properly market to a wide range of groups. The consumer’s voice in conjunction with my passion and knowledge of the culinary arts and my design skills will serve as inspiration in creating, incubating, and developing restaurants that work for a wide variety of groups and tastes.
Destiny Rivera
Hometown: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Major: Graphic and interactive design
Website: destinyrivera.com
I enjoy expressing my passion for the beauty and fashion industry in my graphic design work. My art also highlights women, especially those that are not fully represented in the media. I have a passion for creating at illustrations that simplify the subject matter I am working with.
Melangé is a fully customizable shampoo and conditioner brand geared toward women with curly hair. To get her unique recipe, a customer takes our simple in-app quiz: She enters her curl type, her hair needs, and even her preferred scent.
We mix her special formula and ship it in our beautiful packaging. Melangé is an eco-friendly brand, so bottles can be returned to be reused.
Brooke Thomas
Hometown: Nazareth, Pennsylvania
Major: Graphic and interactive design with a minor in marketing management
Website: brookethomas.co
My work is project driven with close attention to detail. In each design, I create unique features to capture the audience’s attention. During my senior year at Moravian, I branded my own app called Toy Hax. The concept is to provide parents and grandparents with activities to do with their children or grandchildren. Every kid seems to get bored fast. This app helps you keep their minds moving. It includes tutorial videos with voice recordings and step-by-step instructions. Some of the projects repurpose old toys or objects. Keep your and their creativity moving!
Emily Autumn Snyder
Hometown: Whitehall, Pennsylvania
Major: Graphic and interactive design
Website: snydesigns.com
Instagram: @snydesigns_
The decision that had the most impact on both my career and personal interests was to study in Greece. While living there, I learned a tremendous amount about the world through the beauty of art and travel. The experience of a whole different way of living is one that I will never forget and that had tremendous impact in broadening my interests and influencing my direction. When I handpicked sea glass from the beaches of Paros Island and created jewelry with it, I discovered my thesis project—the Global Artistry app.
Global Artistry is an app designed to showcase artists’ work internationally. This digital platform allows artists of any media to sell their work and services all over the world. Customers can discover and purchase authentic, handmade pieces from local artists in whatever city/country they choose. Consumers can even use the app to commission artists to create custom pieces. You can explore Global Artistry in my portfolio.
Savanna Paxton
Hometown: Bloomingburg, New York
Major: Studio art with a concentration in photography
Website: savannapaxton.com
Video work can be viewed at vimeo.com/user109790588
To view all the photos in this series, go to mrvn.co/paxton.
My work is focused on experimental photography, using alternative processes, traditional black-and-white darkroom practices, and pinhole photography to create both still and moving photographic images. I am interested in video works that exemplify the normal everyday things people do, such as dancing in their rooms, taking a shower, or cooking.
My current project, Behind Every Woman, addresses the question of how to capture and honor the relationships I share with strong and influential women in my life. To start, I researched traditional portraiture, studio lighting techniques, and great female artists. I chose to focus my research primarily on female artists because it was important to me that I viewed portraiture from a woman’s perspective about women. Women have a gentler touch when photographing, and I have learned that we tend to focus on inner beauty rather than on outer beauty. I believe that women tend to form supportive “tribes” that help to shape the individuals involved. My goal is to elevate the women in my “tribe” and communicate to the world their impact on me.
This project features six 13-by-20-inch color inkjet portraits of important women in my life that are matted on 20-by-24-inch white presentation mat board. When hung for exhibition, these prints are mounted 2 inches off the wall and surround a cinematographic self-portrait. This self-portrait is a video of me dancing freely in my studio space. This series tackles the importance of female relationships and their impacts on those involved. When I photographed my subjects, my only guiding direction came from my question to them, “If you were president, how would you like your portrait to look?” It was important to me that my subjects had some control when being photographed in order to maintain individuality. I was inspired by the striking difference and individuality shown in early portraits made by artists such as Imogen Cunningham and Nadar. When the series is eventually shown to the public, visitors will leave with a handmade zine featuring the images in the show accompanied by handwritten letters about the women pictured and their impact on me.
Nicholas-Constantine Cephas
Hometown: Lagrangeville, New York
Major: Graphic and interactive design
I am an independent graphic designer and photographer with experience creating covers for musicians and shoe design for athletes. I am fueled by the need to create beautiful images that bring happiness to customers. I would like to bring more exposure to track-and-field, but there’s not a good way to connect with the athletes and truly bring more people to the sport. Growing up, I would reach out to my favorite athletes for advice and words of encouragement, but to my discouragement, only a few responded.
In my thesis, I propose a texting app that connects fans and athletes. With more personal interaction, fans will feel closer to their sports idols and athletes can gain more fans. Athletes can increase their fan base by setting up giveaways, challenges, Q&A sessions, and private message boards, which will help them expand their brand and longevity exponentially.
Andre Orr
Hometown: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Major: Graphic and interactive design
Website: andreorr.com
While contemplating my senior thesis project, I knew I wanted to work on a concept for something that I was familiar with. What came to mind was designing a brand and business targeted to people who want to build a custom computer for a specific purpose: a work station, a gaming PC, or just something that can surf the web and look cool at the same time. So I created EZPC, where a consumer can easily learn about the various internal computer parts needed to make a personalized PC.
Liz Mogollan
Hometown: Allentown, Pennsylvania
Major: Graphic and interactive design with a minor in management marketing
Website: lizmogollan.com
Min + Co. is a makeup, skincare, and body care brand with products that leave consumers feeling comfortable and embracing their lovely skin. Min + Co. offers skincare essentials for dewy, glowing skin and makeup everyone will actually use. It can be fun and exciting to make up your face before you go out to a party, but there are also times when you have 15 minutes before you need to be somewhere. Min + Co. offers a 3-in-1 beauty product, 3, that eliminates multiple steps in applying eyeshadow, blush, and lipstick. It is simple, quick, and easily carried with you to use anywhere.
Rachel Mikols
Hometown: Germansville, Pennsylvania
Major: Graphic and interactive design
Website: rachelann.co
My love for and interest in the ocean inspired my thesis project—a campaign for ocean research. Called Happy as a Clam, its aim is to acquire more funding for ocean exploration. The campaign includes a booklet that showcases interesting and exciting topics about the underwater ecosystem, ranging from the Mariana Trench to facts about sharks and the spectacular blue whale. A poster features different sea creatures found in the ocean along with their names, and the social media page presents a different sea creature each day. Each animal was hand-drawn.
Vina-Andrea Aguirre
Hometown: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; Manila, Philippines
Major: Graphic and interactive design with a minor in management marketing
Website: vinaandreandesign.com
I have always been a strong advocate for women’s rights, including reproductive choice and access to healthcare. Being able to get and use birth control is vital for women’s ability to plan and control their lives. In addition, oral contraceptives offer health benefits, including helping to prevent ovarian cancer and alleviate symptoms of premenstrual syndrome. Most oral contraceptives have no conceptual packaging design or branding. My thesis project introduces the Arbitirum brand of oral contraceptives that is packaged and marketed in positive and encouraging ways. I want the experience of taking oral contraceptives to be more engaging and empowering for young women like me.
Alexa Fodera
Hometown: Staten Island, New York
Major: Graphic and interactive design
Website: alexaelizabeth.com
I have always been drawn to the art of makeup and the cosmetics industry. During my junior year in high school, I worked as an intern on makeup effects for an independent film. That experience and the freelance work I’ve done over the years have fueled a strong interest in the production, marketing, and design associated with cosmetics, so I chose that direction for my senior thesis. To help focus my project, I posted polls on all my social media platforms to find out what issues my friends and followers experienced when purchasing cosmetics. What stood out was that most people had difficulty finding products that matched their skin tone and undertone and were also made with vegan, cruelty-free ingredients. Inspired by this information, I developed the makeup line Embrace Cosmetics.
Lauren Balbierer
Hometown: Springfield, Pennsylvania
Major: English and studio art
Website: laurenbalbierer.com
My senior thesis project, “Narrative Reimagined,” explores different techniques of storytelling through animation and the stories that can be told. The work showcases how sequences of images can be put together to tell a story and convey messages to the viewer. Animation styles include hand-drawn images in stop motion along with collages of settings and figures that move together throughout the frame. As a dual major in English, I take inspiration from creative writing, novels, and fairy tales. As an art major, I wanted to try to combine my two interests by retelling overlooked or marginalized short fairy tales and provide a new way of showcasing them through animation.
Many of my works feature shadow animation, which gives the figures and settings a kind of anonymity. Creating the figures in silhouette provides viewers the opportunity to see a new way that narrative can be represented. Viewers are able to apply their own physical descriptions of characters and follow the narrative even as it continues in and out of the frame. The decision to make the main events of the story take place off camera also alludes to the idea that the storyline is outside of reach from the viewer.
I also explored ideas of having the main figure of my animations stationary while the animation went on around them. This idea helped me cope with the feelings of isolation that I experienced during the pandemic. Finally, I explored the technique of collage animation, which allowed me to incorporate all of the animation techniques that I learned from the research and practice that I had been doing for this project.
“The Story of the Grandmother” Lauren Balbierer
Sarah Althiyabi
Hometown: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Arlington, Virginia
Major: Graphic and interactive design with a minor in management marketing
For my senior thesis project, I developed the lipstick brand Sanude. Creativity is the driving force that allows me to generate new ideas and produce opportunities while overcoming difficult challenges. Illustration has always been a part of my best work, and it is exciting to be able to explore and strengthen something I care about through my profession.