Sarah Toby Was Feature in the Senior Art Exibition

2014 Jan 27

Elyria Native and Ashland University Student Showcases Art Work. This past November, Ashland University's Coburn Art Gallery, in collaboration with the Department of Art, showcased its "Senior Art Exhibition," which provided a capstone experience for graduating art majors. One of the students participating in this showcase was Sarah Toby, a native of Elyria Ohio, and daughter of Denise and Ron Toby. She is a fifth year senior this year. Toby is double majoring in Art Education and will receive a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a minor in art history. From a young age, Toby had shown an interest in the arts and she has taken that love for her craft and turned it into a professional career. The media of her choice is ceramics, and it is through this medium that she is able to create deep personal connections with her artwork, as she pushes the medium to its limits.

When asked about her senior art exhibition, Toby stated, "This experience has been one of constant growth, not just in my artwork but in my personal connections with it as well as a connection to self-understanding. I am so excited about my show and to have the opportunity to see the impact it has on my viewers." After graduation, Toby plans to find a job as a high school art teacher, and eventually return to school to receive her master in fine arts. Through that, she would love to pursue a career in higher education, becoming a ceramics professor.

"The final show of the seniors' undergraduate careers, the 2013 fall semester Senior Art Exhibition, represents more than just students' studio art experiences," said Cynthia Petry, director of the Coburn Art Gallery. "For students of the liberal arts, the exhibition is the culmination of their artistic efforts and accomplishments over the past four years."

Toby is a 2009 graduate of Elyria High School. Ashland University, which has been ranked in the top 200 colleges and universities in U.S. News and World Report's National Universities category, is a mid-sized, private university conveniently located a short distance from Akron, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. Ashland University (www.ashland.edu) values the individual student and offers a unique educational experience that combines the challenge of strong, applied academic programs with a faculty and staff who build nurturing relationships with their students. ###