Some Baker University seniors have put months worth of their best and final work on display in the Holt Russell Gallery as part of their senior studio art exhibitions.

Seniors majoring in art are required to have a senior art exhibition in order to graduate. For each exhibition, the students must fill their space in the gallery with work that is “technically, aesthetically and conceptually proficient.”

“The exhibition is intended to verify the student’s ability to conceive, plan and execute a body of work,” Art faculty member Jennifer Jarnot said. “It prepares our students to compete after graduation as practicing artists and gives them experience in curating a show.”

The exhibition is worth 30 percent of the students’ grade, while producing a portfolio, analysis paper and their oral defense are other factors that average into their grade.

Seniors Claire Thornton and Colton Miller were scheduled to host opening receptions for their senior studio art exhibitions Thursday, and the exhibitions will be open until March 9.

The next exhibition will be displayed March 29 and will feature work by Hannah Welliever and Ryan Douvier. A third exhibition with work by Cate Richards and Tonia Johnson will open on April 26.

Thornton’s exhibition, titled “This We’ll Defend,” is a display in which she portrays her and her family’s involvement in the U.S. military.

“My husband serves in the military, so his service has been a big influence into my work, and he was deployed two years ago,” Thornton said. “So military is very important in my life and I have a lot of family members in the military, too.”

Thornton’s exhibit consists entirely of 16×24-inch photography pieces. Some of the photos were taken around the area, while others were taken while on a trip to Boston.

Miller’s display also embraces his family in a similar way.

His exhibit, titled “The Life of Tarvares Chance Jr.,” is an arrangement of photographs of his 15-month-old nephew.

“At first, it was supposed to be an arrangement of photos of my family in the shape of a field goal, but I switched it because I had a couple pictures of my nephew and he has nothing to do with my football career,” Miller said. “There are a bunch of pictures of my nephew that I really like that I want people to see … so I decided to switch it.”

Thornton’s and Miller’s displays also include an artist statement, which describes the ideas and influences behind each exhibition.

Senior art exhibits are not something art majors work on just in their final semester at Baker.

“We allow them to begin six months before their estimated opening date, so our current group of students started last October,” Jarnot said. “Some of them need that entire six months, while others may only need one or two. It all depends on the body of work and the medium.”

Both Miller and Thornton believe their exhibitions best display their talent and hard work.

“I’m very happy with the pieces,” Thornton said. “I think they turned out (to be) probably some of my best work that I’ve done.”