For student photographer Jacqueline Garner, one of the strengths of Grand Valley State University’s photography program is its emphasis on interaction?ü.

“Photo classes are very different from other academic classes,” said Garner, who graduates in June. “Most of the time in class is spent pinning work to the classroom wall and having an open discussion about it. Your work cannot improve if you make it and then put it in a box. Art is a process that requires feedback and revision.”

In this tradition, GVSU’s School of Communications and Department of Art and Design will host a collaborative public exhibit featuring the senior theses of 15 photography and 14 graphic design students. The student artists will attend the event’s opening reception, which will be held from 5 to 7 p.m Thursday at the DeVos Place Skywalk Gallery.

“As a consumer, what we see is the final product,” said Chitra Gopalakrishnan, assistant professor of graphic design. “But one of the benefits of this show is that the students are right here. I would encourage anyone to just talk to them.”

Gopalakrishnan, who instructs the graphic design senior thesis course, said audiences can discuss the artwork with the students to gain insight into their pieces and the themes or issues they depict.

“It’s really a nice experience for the general public to see the kinds of issues going through the minds of students today, to see how connected they are to the current political and social climate,” she said.

The Skywalk Gallery, located on Monroe Avenue, will host the exhibit from April 13 to 28. The gallery is open 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. On weekends, gallery hours are 8 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Garner will have seven of her pieces displayed in the show, all of which she created from photos she took while studying abroad at Kingston University in London last fall. Garner described the pieces as collages of the places she visited, such as the Eiffel Tower and the London Eye. She blends multiple images of these spaces to create new ones.

“My work is about how new places have new visual elements and how I learned to manage and manipulate them,” Garner said. “I generally try to create a visual experience that a viewer cannot have with the camera or my help. In other words, my images are not something you can actually find out in the world. “

Fellow student photographer Sarah Laman, who graduates this spring, will display eight of her pieces at the exhibit. In her work, Laman said she likes to study people and focus on the world around her. For this reason, her thesis pieces will offer nontraditional portraits of individuals that touch on themes of family, genetics, aging, identity and relationships.

“I have constructed formal portraits that combine two family members to look like one person,” she said. “As you look left to right across the face, it transforms from one family member to another.”

The exhibit will also benefit the students, who can learn from observing and interacting with those who attend the event, Gopalakrishnan said.

“You’re getting to see if people react in a certain way,” she said. “Are they understanding or are they interpreting it in a different way you didn’t expect? It gives the students valuable insight into knowing how people will react to their work, which will eventually be the basis of how they continue their profession.”

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