Fairfield Homeschool Alum Exhibits Senior Artwork at UMHB

 

“Art for me is a method of coping,” says Noel Pinson, a graduating senior at University of Mary Hardin Baylor in Belton, who will be crossing the stage this Saturday, May 4, 2024 to accept a Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design.

Pinson is part of the 4-person Senior Art Exhibition ‘Precipice’ currently featured at the Baugh Center for the Visual Arts.

Their installation, titled Metamorphosis, is a series of six posters utilizing photography and practical makeup that focuses on walking the viewer through the aftermath of a traumatic experience.

For Pinson, this represented an intensely personal transformation following an assault in late 2020. “With this show, I intended to not only address my grief by transforming it into a physical state of being, but to provide solace and solidarity to those who would eventually find themselves in my position.”

During their recovery, Pinson discovered a lack of artwork that they could relate to. “I discovered fairly quickly that art associated with sexual assault is one of three things:  politically motivated, a violent depiction of the act itself, or a clinically direct approach to grief rather than the actual process.”

“I was starved for artwork that acknowledged the process I was going through,” continued Pinson. “I found that there was no other healthy way for me to process my grief other than to let it consume my art.”

Enlisting friends as models, and paying them with food, Pinson designed their make-up, directed their poses, and took hundreds of photographs during the day-long photoshoots. Then came four to five hours of editing, before moving on to the next subject.

Bargaining, Denial, Anger, Depression, Shock, and finally Acceptance.

This senior project took years to complete, but in the end, Pinson experienced a rebirth of both art and self.

Noel Pinson is the daughter of Lynda Pinson and the granddaughter of Gloria V. Smith, both of Fairfield, Texas.

The Senior Art Exhibition ‘Precipice’ includes the artwork of Minnie Rogers, Tianyue Jang, Noel Pinson, and Tiera Flores.

It will be on display through May 4, 2024 at the Baugh Center for the Visual Arts on the UMHB campus, located at the corner of Martin Luther King and Shine Street in Belton, Texas.

 

Follow the artist @wickedsot on Instagram.

Or, contact them via email to wickedsott@gmail.com