The spring arts season has begun in the Fine Arts building. In the lobby, one will find various pieces of art adorning the walls. Those pieces belong to Brandy Vowell and Liz Thorn.

While both these artists focus on the graphic design aspect of advertising, they do have a couple of purely artistic pieces. Vowell’s attention-getter is her Garden Lamp made out of a regular lamp, a clay pot, copper tubing and some faux flowers.

On the wall behind the lamp, her pieces are displayed.

Mirage, a work using Photoshop, is a work with an angel in between what looks like two palm trees with a red, almost fiery background. It gave the feeling of heaven and hell conjoined in an odd sort of way.

While a majority of her works are done in Photoshop and are brochures and advertisements, some of them were convincing. Her Handy Dandy ad was a cute and creative way to advertise shears.

The only perplexing piece of her work was Tick Tock. It had a little riddle statement that was very confusing.

Vowell’s staple-piece is I. It is a Photoshop work of art. It is a picture of a human eye staring back. This would be a piece not to have in the bedroom for fear of awakening in the middle of the night to a huge eyeball.

“In today’s advertising world we are constantly bombarded with images. Humanity is dead and consumerism has taken over. A designer has about two seconds to catch the audience’s attention before they look away. Advertising must be simple, straightforward and bold. My design philosophy follows the old cliché ‘less is more.’ The pieces in this exhibit are a reflection of this philosophy as well as myself. The layout, the illustration, the photography and the composition of each piece are my own design,” said Vowell, in her pamphlet that can be found on a pedestal next to her paintings.

Besides the lamp and the works adorning the wall, Vowell also had two simple loom weaving pieces that look like miniature rugs for a doll house.

Thorn’s work of art was A Summer Day in Williamsburg. This painting looking like off the 1960 Disney classic, Pollyanna. It was peaceful and very soothing.

One piece that was both good and bad was her magazine advertisement, Silver Spoon. It was good artistic wise, but lacked some reality.

It said to be displayed in J.C. Penny and Dillard’s catalogs.

Everything would fit great but two things: Thorn’s misspelling of the word “cocktail” and the girl in the ad. Her gesture with the spoon is not an appropriate advertisement for those kinds of stores.

My Carrie was a terrific piece. It was beautifully done and emotionally draws one in for deeper look. The girl looked to be longing for something; acceptance and love perhaps.

The focus-piece of Thorn’s work is Betrayal. With its dark red tones and blurriness in the background, one cannot help but feel sorry for this poor girl in the painting who has had her heart shattered in one instance by a cheating lover.

Untitled #879 was a dark and simple yet elegant piece. With the background completely dark, there are a few simple items, including a pair of ladies’ shoes.

Thorn’s attention-grabber was her advice to passers-by about what is art and what is not.

With a white toilet seat with Duchamp in black paint, she put a sign underneath letting people know that it is not considered art.

Next to it is a painting entitled Installation: Ode to R. Mutt. To let people know that were for some reason were confused about this dark and mysterious work, it has a sign that says “art” underneath.

An empowering work is Something Girly. It suggests to females everywhere to rip up those corsets (or other things that bind women) and go for the much more comfortable approach.

All of their works of art mentioned, plus many more, are located in the Fine Arts gallery and will be on display until Feb. 10.