Goshen College hosted the opening of  the 2025 Senior Art Show this weekend, an event held at the Hershberger Art Gallery in the Music Center, where current senior art majors displayed their final undergraduate work. The event drew in a large crowd of students eager to support their peers’ artistic achievements.

The artists showcased in the exhibit included: graphic design majors Damjan Mojsin, Isaac Sawatzky, Paula Ferrer Nolla and Ava Lickliter; art major Joseph Mounsithiraj and physics and art double major Elise Jantz. 

The students put countless hours and effort into their work; as Sawatzky said, “It was a long time coming – like dating back to last semester – and it was a relief to have it done, but also it felt like the best present in the world to be able to give … it was an excuse to brag about my work, and brag about my friends’ work” 

Sawatzky also spoke about the sense of community and collaboration that defined the creative process. “We spent so much time together, critiquing each other’s work and helping each other formulate our ideas deeper and further.”

For Mounsithiraj, who balanced both his art exhibition and his role in the production of “RENT,” the busy schedule was a challenge, but also a rewarding experience. “And so I was kind of juggling back and forth between working with sculptures [and] working with theater at the same time.”

Mounsithiraj also mentioned how both of his passions can be seen in his work. Mounsithiraj’s exhibition incorporates light and sculpture to simulate the ocean. The installation featured jellyfish-like sculptures suspended from the ceiling, which changed colors and lit up. “The jellyfish are really fun, they light up [and] change colors. They are old campus lampposts.” he explained, “GC has been replacing the lampposts to reduce light pollution, John Mishler found these old bulb bases and the bulbs that had the wires sticking out and I was like, okay, I’m an electrician for the theater I can just wire this up, put a plug on, put a bulb in. There we go. It’s a jellyfish.”

Jantz shared her creative process, particularly with her ceramics. “The first face type thing that I did was a vase that I had, and I wanted to decorate it with something, I don’t really know why I did it but I put ears on it because I thought it would look cool … I liked that it looked a little bit silly.” She also revealed that when she first arrived at GC, she was not initially an art major. “I did do a lot of art growing up,” she said. 

Elise Jantz’s “twister sculpture” was inspired by anexhibit that she visited last semester.

Mojsin, who also didn’t initially plan to pursue art, echoed similar sentiments. “I always hated art, kind of, and I never enjoyed drawing and stuff,” said Mojsin. He wanted to study architecture, because it is “something that is constructed with precision, you know, something that is not super, like, abstract.” However, GC’s art program allowed him to discover a new path. “I was always creative; I always had very good ideas,” said Mojsin. 

Mounsithiraj too, began with an interest in architecture. “I came into college wanting to study architecture and thinking that was an engineering kind of thing only to find out, oh, it’s actually a subset of the art major. So I was kind of like, ‘I guess I’m an art major now.”’

In contrast, Sawatzky knew from a young age that art would be part of his life. “I had a stack of magazines and I would collage them … I had sketchbooks, and I would just paste and paste,” he said, “I’m looking back on that now, and I realize that had a bigger impact on what I wanted to do.”

Sawatzky’s artwork included a mascot logo that was a particular highlight for him. “That was a long process, with countless pages of sketches and iterations of it, because I wanted to get it perfect, and I think that I did a good job of actually finishing with a finished project that felt professional, and I could give it to a client.”

Community members view Damjan Mojsin’s posters.

Mounsithiraj also reflected on some of his first experimental pieces “Dwayne, the spikey fish, he was the first one. And he was up in the library for a while … He was kind of a test.” 

 Jantz shared that her favorite piece was the curved-shaped smiley sculpture; “that one just gave me a lot of trouble, so I was really happy that it survived and everything.” 

The 2025 Senior Art Show is a testament to the dedication, creativity and growth of these artists as they reached the culmination of their college journey, the pieces will be displayed at the Hershberger Art Gallery at GC Music Center until April 28.