Students taking classes in the Department of Fine and Performing Arts will display their best work on campus beginning today in Boileau Hall as part of the Annual Student Art Exhibit. The show focuses on work from art students that has not previously been exhibited on campus galleries.

A panel of full-time studio art faculty chose 100 works of art to display from an original pool of 175 submitted pieces. The work includes drawings, paintings, photography, computer art, prints and ceramic and metal sculptures.

“With faculty, there’s a lot more of an interest in making certain that it’s representative of the media, of the different levels of students,” said Sharon Pollack, associate professor of art and director of programs for studio art.

Art produced by seniors accounts for 40 percent of the selected work, Pollack said.

“We want to make sure that our seniors are represented,” she said.

One such senior, studio art major Erin Maille, submitted as her main piece a work entitled “Thespian.” It consists of a series of three portraits.

“I did it just because of how inspiring I find my theater friends on campus,” Maille said.

The department requires art majors to submit pieces for the show, Pollack said, to put the art in an actual gallery setting and introduce students to the interpretive aspect of the art world.

“It’s to have the public go and interact with it; it’s all part of going and making art work,” Pollack said. “It’s for other people to go and extract something from it.”

The department encourages all other art students to submit their pieces as well. “If they’re taking a course, they could put in three pieces,” Pollack said. “If they’re taking more than one course, they could put in five pieces.”

Ted Wood, professor of art and art history, talked about the struggles that the show has gone through to gain recognition across the University.

“There was a brief period where we didn’t have a place to show,” Wood said.

The annual show began in the late-1960s as an installation in the Pius XII Memorial Library. It moved to the Cupples House in 1974 and remained there until the mid-1990s. After this period, the showcase found itself without a home.

“We don’t have a stable history in terms of where we are located, but the show has been held for about 40 years,” Wood said.

The art department held the exhibition in a converted room in Xavier Hall at that stage until the gallery space in Boileau Hall (38 Vandeventer Ave.) became available about five years ago.

Boileau Hall will be open to the public Fridays and Saturdays from noon to 4 p.m., beginning today and ending May 3.

The Department of Fine and Performing Arts will host an opening reception from 4:30 to 7 p.m. on Friday, April 25.