Numerous styles that all art students have to apply to their work, such as Zeitgeist, content, composition, technique and craft were shown off at the Art Faculty Exhibition now on display in the Cummings Art Gallery at Mercyhurst College.

The exhibit, which opened on Wednesday, Sept. 9, was embraced by students, alumni and community members alike. They were greeted by a visually appealing variety of thought-provoking artwork.

Portraits made from iron-on plastic beading are situated next to a precious gem collage, showing that different extremes of media can still produce successful art.

Jodi Staniunas-Hopper, assistant professor of art and creator of the beaded work, stated she bought the beads at a garage sale for a quarter and that her portraits “prove you can make art from any object.”

Art Professor Daniel Burke used familiar childhood board-games and a few pizza boxes to create his famous bird artwork, often in display around campus.

“The individual bird forms are made out of cut-out and recycled painted boards. … I’ve noticed that increasingly my work relies on reclamation, recycling and the reuse of materials,” Burke said of the choice of medium.

The diverse range of media on display includes stoneware, porcelain, photography, watercolor, ink, acrylic paints and other mixed media on canvas.

The imaginative application of these mediums is well-developed in each work and assists in the reflection of the artists’ own individual sense of design.

Many of the art students who showed up to the opening were not disappointed in their professors’ work. Junior Ryan Matthew Lanzel, a graphic design major with a minor in photography said, “The aesthetics of the art work shows the diversity and potential of the Mercyhurst art program.”

Indeed, the art faculty represented the 4.0 quality of artwork that all art students strive for in their projects.

Senior Billy Cundiff, a graphic design major, said, “I was very pleased with the overall quality of the show; every artist showed off his/her talent tonight, and it was definitely the best faculty art show I have seen yet.”