Four senior art students are in crunch-mode this week, pulling all-nighters putting the finishing touches on their artwork and figuring out how to set up for their exhibition. The first senior show exhibit opens this Sunday in the Hersberger Gallery at the Music Center with a reception from 2 to 4 p.m. Mark Hershberger, Lorena Morales, David Rumsey, Isaac Shue and Noah Yoder will display a semester’s worth of work, evidence of their progression as artists while at Goshen College.

While only worth one credit-hour, all of the artists have put in countless hours of planning, brainstorming, and active creating, with challenges along the way.

The seniors had hour-long critique sessions with the art professors every two weeks, with most of their time spent in self-guided work. Figuring out how to work around road-bumps was a major part of their process.

“I have had no one piece that came out the way I wanted it to,” said Isaac Shue, who is making large ceramic portraits, “but that’s what happens with ceramics…you have visions, but the 2000 degrees of heat changes your vision quite a bit.”

“Everyone always seems interested in the art building,” he said, “but people are often intimidated by it if they haven’t taken a class there. The show is a chance to see what actually is getting made on campus.”

Creating a full show, with the expectation of at least five pieces (depending on size and detail) can be tedious at times.

For Noah Yoder, painting was a journey of moving from his area of expertise into a new realm.

“I started with the theme of crowds,” he said, “which seemed like an awesome challenge at the time. But as soon as I began, I became really bored! Then I switched to portraits, but was still bored. I thought perhaps it was the stress of the show. I called my dad and he told me to just do whatever I wanted. Themes are overrated.”

Abstraction opened the flow of creativity for Yoder.

“I did a few landscapes, which were horrible, but are now underneath a few of my paintings. I found going abstract more challenging and exciting.”

Mark Hershberger will display both wooden sculptures and graphic illustration pieces, Lorena Morales is showcasing her jewelry-making skills in the show and David Rumsey will present several of his metal sculpture pieces.

This week, many of the five are scurrying to finish up details.

“As of right now, I am waiting on a printer to be fixed, so say a little prayer for me so that I can get those pieces done on time,” says Hershberger. “Come to the Show opening; there will be food.”