Hillyer’s “The Glimpse” Selected for Exhibition

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By Mike Scott

Clark County graduate Shannon Hillyer’s original oil painting, titled “The Glimpse”, has been chosen for the Third Annual Undergraduate Juried Exhibition at the Albrecht-Kemper Museum in St. Joseph.  Her work was one of 40 selected for the exhibit, out of 125 entered by students from all across the United States.

Hillyer, a junior at Northwest Missouri State University, based her painting pff a photo she took while on vacation in Germany in 2017.

“Initially, I was just fulfilling the requirements of an assignment for my painting class, which was to show an interior and exterior space. This church, portrayed in the painting has various forms of texture, great line variation, and dynamic color contrast, which is what I look for in a subject. It seemed like a perfect fit for the assignment. Also, my professor told me no on my other idea,” Hillyer said.

Hillyer is majoring in Graphic Design at Northwest.

“The graphic design degree encompasses a wide range of art mediums, not just digital art. It requires a diverse skill set and is quite challenging. I chose graphic design because it is giving me a chance to improve the skills I already had and learn a vast array of new things, especially in terms of technology. Graphic design also translates really well into the real world working environment, she said.

She credits the skills learned at Clark County for her college success.

“If there was anything I enjoyed most in High School it was Art, Band, and Literature. They were my creative outlets, and I didn’t realize how much they all prep you for the real world. Art and Literature classes were where I got to express myself, no matter how weird and quirky my ideas were. Individual ideas are extremely important in shaping your identity as an artist,” Hillyer commented.  “Band teaches self discipline and patience. I owe a lot of my patience and perseverance to band. This project had a two week deadline on it so without that patience and self discipline I never would have completed it on time.”

After high school, Hillyer was unsure of her future plans, but chose to attend Northwest.

“Northwest offers a broad range of majors and excellent programs in all the things I was interested in at the time, Biology, Art,  and Literature,” she said.  “I am graduating in Spring 2021 and have begun researching graduate programs. I intend to get my masters of fine arts degree and be a college professor.”

“Art is not an impossible career. There are many different opportunities out there for artists, so for anyone who wants to pursue it, ignore the cliches of “starving artist” and take a chance.”