“Great Expectations” celebrates exceptional student designs through March 13 

“Great Expectations”, a gallery featuring design projects from freshmen to seniors in both graphic and interior design, is being hosted by The University of Central Oklahoma School of Design in the Donna Nigh Gallery on the third and fourth floors of the Nigh University Center until March 13. The exhibit is free and open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“The work featured is from all levels of the design program, so we can show what hitting it out of the ballpark would look like for that particular year,” said Cynthia Luong, graphic designer for the UCO School of Design and organizer of the gallery. “It’s also a way to let design students know that we have great expectations of them, but they should also have great expectations of themselves moving forward past the program,” continued Luong.

Each piece showcases creativity, hard work and excellence in design.

“The main goal is to showcase exceptional work from current and some past students that have gone above and beyond what was expected of them in the project scope,” said Luong.

The exhibit does just that and spans two floors.

Although this is a new gallery, Luong is optimistic about its future and complimented a few submissions that exceeded expectations. 

“A standout piece is ‘Exterior Rendering’ by Katelynn Potts, which is a freshman level course project that requires hand rendering a building in two-point perspective using watercolor”.

“There’s also ‘Fanfare Parfum’ by Emma Thompson, an upper-level graphic design course project where the student designs and 3D renders a perfume bottle,” said Luong.

Luong highlighted how the gallery is a valuable platform for student growth. 

“I have seen many students grow through this exhibition. This exhibition has some students that had work from multiple years and although they are in this gallery because their professor found their work excellent, you can see how much they have improved further going into just the next level-just a year or even a semester can make a difference,” said Luong. 

Luong said that not only does this exhibit provide a space for students to display their work, but she hopes that it inspires other students, while boosting the artist’s self-esteem.

“It’s important for students because not only does it get their work out there for others to see, but it also encourages them to improve, to look at other student’s great work and strive to compete. After all this is a competitive field,” said Luong.

“It’s also a great boost to a student’s confidence because their work has been seen and heard, not only by their peers and teachers, but by others looking at the exhibit,” said Luong.

Luong said the exhibit has been received incredibly well and has gotten nothing but positive feedback.

“Even while putting up the boards for the gallery, there were passers-by that would stop and take a look even before we finished putting everything up,” said Luong.