By Emily Roberts, student news writer, Office of University Communications
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. - Ashlyn Summers, an art and design education major at Campbellsville University, will host her senior art exhibition through Friday, Nov. 11 in The Pence-Chowning Art Gallery, 205 University Drive, Campbellsville.
Everyone is invited to the free exhibit and reception.
The reception is 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., Friday, Nov. 11.
Summers is an artist specializing in two-dimensional mediums, such as drawing, embroidery and painting.
Summers was raised in Eubank, Ky. and hopes to remain in Kentucky to teach children the benefits of creativity through artmaking.
As an artist, in addition to her career as an educator, she plans to take commissions and apply to galleries to gain recognition within her community.
Summers credited her specialization to her childhood fascinations pertaining to her work at Campbellsville University.
“My obsession with horses as a young child motivated me to draw almost daily,” she said. Summers also credited her art's depictions of botanical and animal themes to her childhood obsessions.
“I have always had an appreciation for the natural beauty of our environment and the
beings that inhabit it,” Summers said.
The exhibition's goal is to make the viewer “feel as if they are entering a different stage” of Summers' work as they transition between the two galleries.
Each gallery includes still lives, charcoal and graphite drawings, embroidery and prints to show Summers' experimentation with various media.
She has received many awards, such as the Campbellsville University Jean Pennebaker Art Education Scholarship and the F & A Phillips Education Scholarship.
Summers said her artistic journey at Campbellsville university had been experimentation and discovery.
“I entered the facility with drawing experience and a love for realism but will be leaving with specialized skills in acrylic and oil painting, embroidery and printmaking,” she said.
Summer's previous exhibitions include the following at Campbellsville University: Homecoming Pop-Up in 2021 in the Art Studio, the Elementary Art Pop-Up in 2022, the Annual Student Juried Show at The Pence-Chowning Gallery in 2022, and the Printed Pop-Up at the Campbellsville University art studio in 2022.
“The bold colors and textures are meant to be overwhelming initially, but it serves to juxtapose the content in gallery one,” Summers said.
The gallery hours for Nov. 10 and 11 are as follows: Thursday, Nov. 10 —9 a.m.-noon and 1 p.m.-5:45 p.m.; and Friday, Nov. 11—9 a.m.-11 a.m.; 1 p.m.-2 p.m. and 4 p.m.-6 p.m.
She will graduate in May 2023 with a Bachelor of Science as an Art Major, a P-12 teaching certification, and a Music Minor.
She received her associate in arts degree from Somerset Community College in 2020.
Campbellsville University is a widely acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university that offers over 100 programs of study including doctoral, master, bachelor, associate and certificate programs. The website for complete information is www.campbellsville.edu.