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Schaefer is now being prepared for its next exhibition which can be viewed on November 8. It includes the art of two summer grant students, art scholarship students, and even high schoolers. Seniors Willa Brown and Kaelyn Lobalbo are those two grant students. They were awarded this one-time grant because of their exceptional grant proposals and art experience.

Willa Brown is pursuing a double major in English and Studio Art, with a minor in Film and Media Studies. She was very interested in art during high school, so when she completed her English major early on and needed something to pick up, she returned to art saying that “it felt natural,” and went on to find a new passion in photography. She had always enjoyed taking pictures on her phone, so she decided why not try photography in a more formal setting? From that day on, she knew “… yep, that is for me,” and has been pursuing photography for about a year and a half. In this gallery specifically, she focused on a retro vibe that “looks a little more throwback,” and takes inspiration from the “music side of art,” that being 90s hip-hop and rap, to be exact.

Willa achieved this goal by using a special type of lens, called a fisheye lens that messes with proportion and bend of the subject. “Inevitably, I like to include my friends or those close to me [in my art], and I like to be able to reflect their personalities within my photos,” which is why she gathered up some friends and took to the streets of Winona, Minnesota for these photos. Overall, she has enjoyed her time at �鶹��Ƶ and says “It’s been very fun and very fulfilling.” She plans on pursuing a career in the publishing world, focusing on copy editing, but will still continue to take photos and create art as a form of expression.

The other grant student featured in the Schaefer Gallery is Kaelyn Lobalbo, who is double majoring in Studio Art and Peace, Justice, and Conflict Studies. And just like Willa, Kaelyn has always been an artist but was not originally going to be a Studio Arts major. Kaelyn was planning on studying Political Science at first, then Education, and finally landed on her current double major. “I think I’ve always wanted to do [an art major], it just took a lot of self convincing,” she says.

As opposed to Willa’s photography, Kaelyn is more focused on mixed media in the form of collages, utilizing things like painting, drawing, and magazine cutouts to make a cohesive collection of art. In order to find the best cutouts that fit the vibe of her art, Kaelyns spends “a lot of hours flipping through magazines,” because “there’s no specific inspiration, it’s just things that catch my eyes,” she says. Though she only has a few years of experience in the �鶹��Ƶ art community because she transferred here as a Junior, she has gotten to “know everybody pretty intimately.” This is due to the friendly and welcoming environment that the professors and students of the art community bring. “It really doesn’t feel like [the professors] are lording over us, rather that they’re helping us,” she says. In terms of the future, Kaelyn is still unsure exactly what she wants to do. Currently she is “kinda leaning towards library science.”

Both of their art displays and many more can be seen at the Schaefer Gallery, which is open Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm, and weekends from 1pm to 5pm. This exhibition is on display from November 8 to December 15, 2024.