In our continuing coverage of McDaniel students and their Capstone projects, three Honors Art majors – Jessica Lepson, Elizabeth Cosby, and Andrew Schultz – showcase their very different, very individual work.

Jessica Lepson’s prints turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. She uses found objects like bubble wrap, leaves, soda fountain lids, and packets of sweetener in her prints. In fine black-and-white detail, the objects take on a whole new beauty, and hardly resemble their original form. Lepson bases her work on the Japanese concept of wabi sabi, whereby objects are considered more beautiful because they are aged, worn, or loved.

“Wabi sabi represents a comprehensive worldview or aesthetic system characterized by irregular, intimate, unpretentious, earthly, simple materials,” Lepson says. “It is the beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. It’s the beauty of things modest and simple.”

Lepson is applying to graduate school, and she hopes to work in global advertising or marketing.

As Lepson looks outward for her inspiration, Elizabeth Cosby looks at the influences on her world, everything from television to books, friends, and studies. Her paintings, that she calls a diary of sorts, are layers upon layers of sketches, drawings, and prints in acrylic, silkscreen, and oil. She decorates canvas, paper, and even brown bags with swirling flowers, words, and even tiny plastic dolls. It takes time to see everything in one painting, and Cosby likes it that way.

“My work is inspired by and reflects the variety of and mass of visual information observed in every day life,” Cosby says. “My generation is experienced and able to process this informational and visual avalanche thanks to advances in technology and resources such as the Internet.”

“Her ability to grow and solidify ideas have progressed in a short amount of time,” says Assistant Art and Art History Professor Steven Pearson. “She has been able to synthesize her ideas more.”

Cosby, an Ocean City native, has already been accepted to graduate school, where she will pursue her M.F.A. She plans to paint and exhibit her work nationwide.

Meanwhile, Andrew Schultz (left), a graphic and Web designer, is hoping to head back home to the Philadelphia area. Schultz created all of the graphic material for an imaginary brewery called the Bonefish Microbrewery and Restaurant. He designed coasters, gift cards, wall art, business cards, postcards, and advertisements.

“I thought I’d try something different,” Schultz says. “I want to show that you don’t need women to market beer.”

Schultz hand-aged pictures of beer using Photoshop, then used transfer techniques to achieve a montage look. The images are put together with masking tape. The effect is dark, grungy and trendy. The Bonefish Microbrewery and Restaurant’s visual identity seeks to attract an avant-garde crowd of intellectuals and creative types.

“That’s a project that he can use in his portfolio to help him get a job,” says Susan Bloom, professor of Art and Art History. “He’s imaginative, persistent, and loves that field. I’m sure he’ll do great,”

You can see Schultz’s designs for Bonefish Microbrewery and Restaurant at www.andrewschultzdesign.com/bonefishweb.