Soft ultraviolet light shimmered over a manta ray sculpture while ceramic faces, rough clay textures and collages lined the walls of the Eastern Star Gallery. The works were placed throughout the space, surrounding viewers as they moved through the room.

Seniors Sara Salehi, Julia Ong and Cleo Wilson opened their collaborative senior art show, “(Un)-becoming,” in the Eastern Star Gallery Wednesday, May 6. Through ceramics and collage work centered on identity and the natural world, each artist approached the theme through a different lens while sharing one installation space.

The show blended three distinct approaches to art-making through a shared theme exploring how people relate to the natural world and to each other. For Salehi, a ceramist, that connection starts with clay itself.

“I like to highlight shapes and orientations that our eyes normally breeze past in a normal day,” Salehi said. “It’s kind of a way to remind me — and hopefully remind other people — that humans are just such a small moment in our world and in nature.”

Salehi said that her approach results in sculptures with uneven, layered surfaces and abstracted forms that shift between perceptible and unrecognizable. 

According to ceramics teacher Dulce Ibarra, Ong’s work draws from her Polynesian heritage and uses ceramics to connect personal identity and nature. One of her central pieces was a manta ray sculpture covered in symbolic patterns and lit with UV-reactive glaze, giving it a faint glow under gallery lighting. Sophomore Sophie Salehi visited the senior show to support her sister, Sara Salehi, and her friends. Sophie Salehi said that Ong’s pieces stood out for their symbolism and the way they reflected her cultural background. 

“They were all symbols to represent herself and her family,” Sophie Salehi said. “She had this piece that represented her relationship with her parents, which I thought was really pretty. I loved how she incorporated that into the project.”

According to Sara Salehi, Wilson’s collage work stands out through layered images and textures that build “busy” compositions. Instead of focusing on single objects, Sara Salehi said her pieces create meaning through overlapping elements that change depending on how long the viewer looks at them.

Despite being installed in one shared space, the three bodies of work presented different interpretations of humanity’s connection to the natural world, Sara Salehi said. Instead of separating sections, the artists placed their pieces throughout the gallery so they would interact visually and thematically. Ibarra said that the installation mirrored how the students worked closely together and made decisions with each other’s work in mind throughout the process.

“There’s not a single area in the gallery that’s specifically one person’s area,” Ibarra said. “They were just trying to make their works have a conversation with each other’s artwork.”

Ibarra said that the seniors’ project also required constant editing as students adjusted what they included to maintain balance in the collaborative space.

“They were able to really edit what they were doing and think about one another,” Ibarra said. “That was really cool for them to make some great choices in terms of what they wanted to show and how they wanted to display in thinking about one another.”

For Sara Salehi, the exhibition also marks the end of a longer personal arc that began when she first encountered senior shows as a middle schooler and began building her own portfolio in her junior year. She said seeing her work installed in the gallery setting made the process feel both grounding and emotional.

“I remember seeing the senior show when I was in eighth grade, and I didn’t think I’d ever make it this far in ceramics to have my own,” Sara Salehi said. “Ceramics has become something I’ve really found enjoyment in over the years, so this is very special and emotional for me.”

As the school year comes to an end, this senior show marks one of the final Eastern Star Gallery projects of this year. Ibarra said that the trio’s togetherness and dedication made the project special. 

“I am really proud of what they were able to accomplish,” Ibarra said. “I’m so happy to have helped them see the success that they could actually make within this exhibition.”