Arts & culture, Campus & community, Events at Berkeley, Performing arts, Literature, Film, Visual arts

Art and design students put their creativity on display

By Christopher Merchant

A woman looks at art in the UC Berkeley Worth Ryder art gallery during a student Fall semester capstone exhibition.
UC Berkeley student Samara King looks at works by Derek Yu. Yu created a series of abstract paintings that contrast angular, architectonic planes with soft, atmospheric washes created with coffee stains. He writes, “From the rendering of human structures in geometric architectural form, I would like to illustrate that we are independent individuals, yet dependently connected to each other in the world.” (Photo via UC Berkeley Art Practice).
A woman looks at art in the UC Berkeley Worth Ryder art gallery during a student Fall semester capstone exhibition.

UC Berkeley student Samara King looks at works by Derek Yu. Yu created a series of abstract paintings that contrast angular, architectonic planes with soft, atmospheric washes created with coffee stains. He writes, “From the rendering of human structures in geometric architectural form, I would like to illustrate that we are independent individuals, yet dependently connected to each other in the world.” (Photo via UC Berkeley Art Practice).

From sculptures made of found wood stacked like a Rube Goldberg machine to wheeled robots that navigated obstacle courses, craft and creativity were on display across UC Berkeley’s campus at the end of the fall 2016 semester as students across disciplines presented their final projects of the semester.

The student creators were on hand to discuss their work, and most of the events were free and open to the public, giving the community an in-depth look at their projects.

Crystal Chang, a second-year undergraduate, was there as part of a team that prototyped a new digital user interface for BART’s ticket machines for an introductory course on design elements.

“What we learned about wasn’t abstract,” says Chang. “It was human interaction. I go out to a BART station now and I think, ‘Well, this could have been designed differently,’ or ‘This design wasn’t considering my interaction with it.’ ”

The Berkeley Fall Arts and Design showcase was represented by departments and programs across campus.

Read more on the Berkeley Arts + Design website